Alcohol and Humans: A Long and Social Affair

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Kimberley Hockings (Lecturer in Conservation Science, Lecturer in Conservation Science, University of Exeter, UK) Robin Dunbar (Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, University of Oxford, UK)

Alcohol and Humans

A Long and Social Affair

Kimberley Hockings (Lecturer in Conservation Science, Lecturer in Conservation Science, University of Exeter, UK), Robin Dunbar (Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, University of Oxford, UK)

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English

Oxford University Press
19 December 2019

Social classes; Social & cultural anthropology; Social, group or collective psychology; Psychopharmacology; Human biology

Alcohol use has a long and ubiquitous history. The prevailing tendency to view alcohol merely as a 'social problem' or the popular notion that alcohol only serves to provide us with a 'hedonic' high, masks its importance in the social fabric of many human societies both past and present. To understand alcohol use, as a complex social practice that has been exploited by humans for thousands of years, requires cross-disciplinary insight from social/cultural anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, psychologists, primatologists, and biologists. This multi-disciplinary volume examines the broad use of alcohol in the human lineage and its wider relationship to social contexts such as feasting, sacred rituals, and social bonding. Alcohol abuse is a small part of a much more complex and social pattern of widespread alcohol use by humans. This alone should prompt us to explore the evolutionary origins of this ancient practice and the socially functional reasons for its continued popularity. The objectives of this volume are: (1) to understand how and why nonhuman primates and other animals use alcohol in the wild, and its relevance to understanding the social consumption of alcohol in humans; (2) to understand the social function of alcohol in human prehistory; (3) to understand the sociocultural significance of alcohol across human societies; and (4) to explore the social functions of alcohol consumption in contemporary society.'Alcohol in Humans' will be fascinating reading for those in the fields of biology, psychology, anthropology, archaeology, as well as those with a broader interest in addiction.

Edited by: Kimberley Hockings (Lecturer in Conservation Science Lecturer in Conservation Science University of Exeter UK), Robin Dunbar (Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, University of Oxford, UK)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 177mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9780198842460
ISBN 10: 0198842465
Pages: 226
Publication Date: 19 December 2019
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kimberley Hockings is a lecturer in Conservation Science at the Centre of Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. Her research examines the ways in which human and nonhuman great apes coexist in shared landscapes, including in their overlapping use of resources such as fermented beverages. From this she has developed an interest in the evolutionary origins of ethanol consumption in humans. To effectively understand human and wildlife components of interactions her research increasingly combines biological, ecological, and social science approaches. She conducts fieldwork in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, west Africa, and is a member of the Great Ape Section of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group. Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, and Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998. His principal research interests focus on the evolution of sociality (with particular reference to primates and humans). He is best known for the social brain hypothesis, the gossip theory of language evolution and Dunbar's Number (the limit on the number of relationships that we can manage). He has published 30 books and edited volumes and over 300 journal articles.

Reviews for Alcohol and Humans: A Long and Social Affair

The 13 essays in this edited volume make important contributions to understanding the biological, technical, and social dimensions of alcohol production and consumption in various cultural settings ranging from Neolithic Mesopotamia to modern Bolivia and Guyana. This collection represents the latest work of anthropological scholarship on alcohol, and leading experts in the field of alcohol studies are among the contributors. * Choice *