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Essay Crime and Deviance
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An essay written for Crime and Deviance module - graded 70/100
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Critically chart the course of the movement of an action, group or activity betweenacceptable, deviant and (potentially) criminal labelling within a given society, exploring the
attitudes and structures that lead to that movement
This essay will explore the way young people’s alcohol consumption has moved from being
labelled as acceptable to deviant to criminal and the subtle differences between deviance
and acceptability. Deviance is defined as behaviour that goes against the norms of the
society in which it is found, therefore actions can easily differ in how acceptable they are
based on societies attitudes. This essay will begin by discussing how the acceptability of
alcohol can largely be influenced by an individual’s parents, guardians, or other adult role
models, followed by discussing the acceptable drinking practices within certain cultures and
religions. For instance, that teenagers in the UK and a number of other ‘northern European’
countries reported the highest levels of heavy drinking and intoxication (Plant &
Miller,2001). The alternate acceptance within religion will also be discussed, highlighting the
differences between Christianity and Muslim drinking practices such as the social
prohibition about drinking within Muslim communities leading to most of young people’s
consumption to take place in marginal public but never at home (Valentine, Holloway &
Jayne, 2010). There will also be a focus on the ways alcohol becomes gendered, in
particular, the role of gender in terms of drinking alcohol as the cultural meanings of
women’s social roles may have an important effect on the quantity of women’s drinking
(Lyons & Willott, 2008). The following section will discuss the deviant aspects of young
people’s consumption of alcohol, touching on the differing interpretations of deviance in
terms of behaviour and college norms such as abstaining from drinking or binge drinking.
The essay will conclude by exploring how alcohol is labelled as criminal and the ways young
people become involved within the criminal side of alcohol such as through violence or
proxy sales.
In regard to alcohol, young people, and acceptable drinking practices there are many
variations depending on the society’s culture, for instance, young people’s drinking practices
are largely influenced by their parents, carers, and other adult role models within the home.
It was found that in the mid to late 1970s to the late 1980s, there was little to no alcohol
consumed at home, with young men having their first drinks around age 16 (Valentine,
Holloway & Jayne, 2010). The majority of adults are now introducing rituals in order to
minimise the amount of alcohol that is consumed at home as drinking alone can be seen as
indicative of mental distress (Taylor, Corteen, & Morley, 2014) and providing young people
with alcohol at home is becoming less socially acceptable. There are several occasions in
which young people are allowed to drink in the home regardless of their age, such as
Christmas, Easter, or religious events which are deemed acceptable within society.
Furthermore, within British culture it is seen as socially acceptable for young people to drink
at the pub with a meal. This can allow for young people to have an early initiation into
drinking, and the indirect effect between this and parental alcohol use, can influence young
people’s alcohol use once they are away from their parental influences (Mahedy et al,
2018). Pub culture in Britain is an integral part of socialising for people of all ages and in this
, environment, the desire is to be sociable or have fun rather than simply the pursuit of
drunkenness (Valentine, Holloway & Jayne, 2010).
There is also differences in acceptable drinking practices based on an individual’s religious
views, for example, the majority of Pakistani Muslims abstain from alcohol (Valentine,
Holloway & Jayne, 2010). In the case of Pakistani Muslims, the choice to abstain is due to
the cultural belief that alcohol is forbidden and will lead to deviant behaviour. This may be
seen as deviant within other cultures, however for this community it is the norm. Due to the
increasing immigration to the UK from communities that abstain from alcohol, drinking
trends have been seen to rapidly reduce (Milward, 2015). However, the younger generation
of Pakistani Muslims are now becoming involved in acceptable drinking practices as the
young men are motivated by a desire to fit in and lose their inhibitions in order to gain
confidence with young girls (Valentine, Holloway & Jayne, 2010). Likewise, they are more
likely to be accepting of those who choose to drink and venues that provide this lifestyle in
order to be sociable. Likewise, in religions such as Christianity, giving young people alcohol is
seen as acceptable within their rituals. For instance, in a Holy Communion, wine is seen as
representative of the blood of Jesus (Deckebach, 2021) and therefore it is acceptable to
provide those aged seven to eight with wine on this occasion.
Furthermore, alcohol is seen as largely acceptable in a college setting, as introductory weeks
for first year students in UK universities usually include social events centred on alcohol
(Bewick, Mulhern, Barkham, Trusler, Hill & Stiles, 2008). Despite the number of students
abstaining as previously discussed, there is increasing peer pressure to drink, particularly for
young women to attempt to keep up with male counterparts (Valentine, Holloway & Jayne,
2010). Society deems drinking within a college or university setting as acceptable due to the
growing independence and party culture that is encouraged in these situations. In the USA
there is a tradition of what is known as Greek life; Fraternities which are made up of males
and Sororities which are made up of females. These social groups encourage events and
initiations that involve alcohol and in particular Fraternity parties are well known for
encouraging excessive drinking amongst their members (O’Malley, 2004). Drinking has
become a ritualistic action within colleges in the USA and universities in the UK, the majority
of young people viewing it as a right of passage. It is also an integral part of the higher
education experience (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2021) with many
students’ main purpose of drinking being to drink as much as possible. However, the
acceptability of alcohol amongst young people at university or college is changing due to the
cost and the risks associated with alcohol. Although, the social environment of college or
university is generally supportive of alcohol consumption, it is easy to assume that entering
adulthood after graduation could result in declines in heavy drinking rates (O’Malley, 2004).
As this generation is more aware of their health, both mental and physical for instance,
there has been a sharp increase in the number of people in their twenties dying from liver
disease as a result of drinking heavily in their teens (nidirect). This means that the action of
being drunk or blacking out is becoming less socially acceptable amongst young people and
the practice of drinking is becoming less popular.
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