This volume explores generational differences in alcohol consumption practices and examines the changing role of alcohol across the life course. It considers generational patterns in where, how and why people buy and consume alcohol and how these may interact with identity and belonging and considers how drinking alcohol in adolescence, adulthood, middle-age or later life takes on different functions, meanings and tensions. Alcohol is shown to play an important role in biographical transitions, such as in the coming of age rituals that mark the passage from adolescences to adulthood, whilst drinking alcohol in adulthood and in later life takes on new meanings, pleasures and risks in light of shifting roles and responsibilities relating to work, leisure and the family. The empirically-informed contributions draw on a range of diverse disciplinary backgrounds and a range of cultural contexts provides a nuanced examination of the role of alcohol at different life course stages and explores both continuity and change between generations.

Using a focus on the trajectory of commoditisation of gin in West Africa, this book investigates how imported goods acquire specific local meanings. It shows that local consumers, not foreign advertisers, produced the importance of schnapps gin for African ritual

This is the tenth volume in the Research Advances series and the seventh published by Plenum Press. Volume 10 is another omnibus volume, providing specialized and advanced reviews in a number of areas related to the use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and tobacco. We include also a brief history of the Center for Alcohol Studies that gives Mark Keller's unique perspective on this noted institution. Two of the chapters are decidedly longer than the others-very long chapters have appeared occasionally in the past, and we think that it is one of the strengths of the series that we are able to accommodate such reviews. Again the editorial board has changed. After several years of service, Reginald G. Smart has stepped down. New to the board are Helen M. Annis, Michael S. Goodstadt, Lynn T. Kozlowski, and Evelyn R. Vingilis. This is likely to be the sole volume for which Goodstadt is on the board, since before completion of this volume he moved from the Addiction Research Foundation to the Center for Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University.

As developing nations increase their consumption rate, their relevance in the global marketplace grows. Existing assumptions and postulations about consumer consumption in various societies are being displaced largely due to the dynamic nature of the market. However, research has not been adequately devoted to explore the developments in consumer behavior in developing nations, which has resulted in numerous unanswered questions. Exploring the Dynamics of Consumerism in Developing Nations provides vital research on consumer behavior in developing countries and changes in the socio-cultural dimensions of marketing. While highlighting topics such as celebrity influence, marketing malpractices, and the adoption of e-government, this publication is ideally designed for researchers, advanced-level students, policymakers, and managers.

This edited collection explores the economic, political, and social meanings of alcohol usage in Sub-Saharan Africa.