Answer
The extensive literature on drinking practices raises some interesting anthropological problems. This paper is not a review of that literature or of any major part of it, but it is rather intended to bring to notice certain problems which merit further attention. The use of alcohol is generally a matter of considerable cultural interest. It may be tabooed; it is not ignored. Even a brief account of the range of drinking practices shows that cultural expectations define the ways in which drinking, both normal and abnormal, is done in a society. This is well known to anthropologists but often glossed over in the medical and behavioral studies of the subject. Cultural variations in drinking have been more often noted by anthropologists than have the cross-cultural similarities. Where drinking is culturally approved, it is typically done more by men than by women. Drinking is more often a social affair than a solitary act, and the social group in which drinking is done is usually composed of age mates and social peers. Where alcohol is used at family meals, it tends to be defined as a food rather than as a stimulant.
That's why it is a cultural problem.
