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Contact: [email protected] PLEASURE, AGENCY, SPACE AND PLACE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF YOUTH DRINKING CULTURES IN A SOUTH WEST LONDON COMMUNITY By Laura Kelly Barnett Canterbury Christ Church University Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 ABSTRACT Media, government and public discourse in the UK associate young drinkers as mindless, hedonistic consumers of alcohol, resulting in young people epitomising ‘Binge Britain’. This preoccupation with ‘binge’ drinking amplifies moral panics surrounding youth alcohol consumption whereby consideration of the social and cultural nuances of pleasure that give meaning to young people’s excessive drinking practices and values has been given little priority. This sociological study explores how young drinkers regulate their drinking practices through levels of agency which is informed by values linked to the pursuit of pleasurable intoxication alongside friendship groups in a variety of drinking settings. Data informing this study comes from contextualised ethnographic fieldwork alongside heterogeneous groups of young people and community members in an area of South West London. Whilst encountering hundreds of participants in fieldwork, data informing this research stems from ninety main protagonists. Following a qualitative grounded theoretical approach, the study prioritises the voice and everyday experience of young drinkers and local community members to present theoretical descriptions of youth drinking cultures embedded in a historical, social, cultural and spatial context. Through the ethnographic data, this thesis argues that young drinkers show levels of agency in their pursuit of pleasurable drinking experiences through conscious forms of self-governance and regulation which are informed by learned experiences and interactions such as gender. Moreover, youth drinking is both enabled and restricted by constraints and complexities such as space and place; which form central points of analysis in this thesis. It is concluded that accounts derived directly from young people are not only central to understanding how and why young people engage in forms of excessive drinking, but can better inform national and local alcohol-related policies and strategies, as opposed to discourse preoccupied with UK ‘binge’ drinking that young people rarely identify with. 2 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Map of Sutton High Street Figure 2: Map of the “London Boroughs, 2013” Figure 3: ‘Sutton Ward Map’ Figure 4: Summary of the London Borough of Sutton’s Public Register Premises Licence, March 2013 Figure 5: ‘Addressing inequalities in Sutton: Income deprivation data affecting children index 2010. Lower super output areas (SOAs) by National Quintiles.’ Figure 6: ‘Trend in young people aged under 18 admitted to hospital with alcohol specific conditions’ Figure 7: Trinity Square Figure 15: The Sparrow Youth Club Figure 16: The Rafters Figure 17: The Sutton Youth Bus Figure 18: Willow High School Classrooms 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is impossible to produce a definitive list of all of the people whom I would like to truly thank from the bottom of my heart for enabling me to complete this research. I only hope that I can offer the praise that you deserve. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Shane Blackman, whose support, guidance and patience have been invaluable from the start to finish of this Doctorate. I most certainly would not have finished this without you. I would also like to thank my supervisory panel, Professor Linden West and Professor Stephen Clift, whose academic guidance has challenged and pushed the boundaries of my thinking to the levels that I needed to achieve. I offer my sincere thanks to Department of Media, Art and Design at Canterbury Christ Church University. The financial scholarship was pivotal in enabling me to undertake the PhD and the Department’s academic direction has been of great value. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Graduate School and the Post Graduate Research Association, whose friendly community has enabled me to feel comfortable in expressing ideas in an encouraging environment. To all of the young people and young adult research participants who have underpinned this entire research, I thank you. Without you, this research would not have been possible. It has been a great pleasure meeting each and every one of you. Thank you for sharing your invaluable knowledge, experience and time. To all of the local professionals, community organisations and services within the London Borough of Sutton who participated in this study, thank you for providing me with access to research opportunities, materials and resources. I also thank you for sharing your skills and expertise. 4 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to three very important people in my life. Firstly, I dedicate this work in memory of my late mother Mary Margaret Duggan. Her life inspired me to pursue research in the field of alcohol studies and helped me to challenge conventional perceptions about society’s relationship with alcohol. I also dedicate this thesis to my father John Patrick Doherty, who has always had faith in me, has shown relentless love and supported me in this endeavour. I could not have done this without you. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my husband, Greg-Joe Barnett, your patience and love have helped me make it through to the finish line. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLEASURE, AGENCY, SPACE AND PLACE: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF YOUTH DRINKING CULTURES IN A SOUTH WEST LONDON COMMUNITY ................................................... 1 ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 4 DEDICATION........................................................................................................................ 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 10 1.1. Biographical context and inspiration of the research ................................................. 10 1.2. Research Aims ......................................................................................................... 12 1.3. Thesis Structure ....................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER ONE: A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF YOUNG PEOPLE’S EXCESSIVE DRINKING IN THE UK .................................................................................. 15 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 15 1.2. A longstanding history of fears of and fears for young drinkers ................................. 15 1.3. Binge Britain: young people as homogenous, mindless and hedonistic consumers .. 25 1.4. The siren call of youth to the contemporary ‘culture of intoxication’........................... 29 1.5. Acknowledging youth agency and pleasure in a neoliberal context ‘binge’ drinking .. 35 1.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 38 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 40 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 40 2.2. Contextualising the research settings and participants ............................................. 40 2.2.1. ‘Hometown glory’: an autobiographic account of my drinking biography, prior knowledge and insider status with the fieldwork location .............................................. 41 2.2.2. ‘Making the familiar strange’: initial mapping of Sutton’s drinking culture ............ 42 2.2.3. Drinking biography of the London Borough of Sutton ......................................... 44 2.2.4. Establishing fieldwork relations and introduction to the research protagonists .... 52 2.3. Theoretical and Methodological Foundations ............................................................ 60 2.3.1. Prioritising youth agency, voice, lived experience and spatial interaction through traditional ethnographic Chicago