A cultural approach to conceptualizing alcohol and the workplace

Alcohol Health & Research World,  Spring, 1992  by Genevieve M. Ames,  Craig Janes

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Physical availability refers to the ease with which alcohol can be brought onto the work site, purchased during lunch breaks, or be otherwise accessible for work-related consumption. While there is little doubt that physical availability of alcohol influences consumption rates at the State and community level (Gruenewald et al. in press; Holder 1988), little is known about how access to alcohol at work affects work-related drinking. In our study of the employee population from the closed plant (Ames and Janes 1987), there was evidence that physical availability of alcohol had been high in that workplace. Workers reported that alcohol could easily be brought into the plant in thermos jugs or pockets, and stored in their lockers. Most of the workers who were heavy drinkers reported that they drank beer outside the plant, but preferred spirits at work because of the ease with which they could be poured into coffee cups or soft drink containers and disguised. The physical availability of alcohol interacted with other risk factors to support and influence drinking practices at work.

A general definition of social availability of alcohol refers to how one's friends' use of alcohol affects one's own drinking (Smart 1980). With respect to the workplace, we define the concept in terms of drinking practices within work-related social networks. Based on existing research, there are two important hypotheses in this context: (1) cultural norms that favor work-related drinking influence the establishment of workplace drinking subcultures, and (2) people choose and befriend work mates who drink the way they themselves do.

Our analysis of the drinking histories of the laid-off workers in the West Coast factory showed that small friendship groups among new or transferred workers developed into broader drinking networks throughout the plant. While some networks operated only at lunch breaks or after work, others operated on the job. For example, workers reported that drinking was more widespread during overtime hours, Fridays, and just before holidays. Some who worked the night shift formed carpool groups and drank daily with this group while traveling to and from work (Ames and Janes 1990). Other researchers have suggested that the

social availability of alcohol in work-related environments is a key determinant for the formation of heavy-drinking subcultures (Cosper 1979; Harford et al. 1979).

In our more recent study of workers in the durable goods manufacturing plant, there were indications that alcohol was also perceived in this work site as highly available (see Ames and Delaney 1992). Responses to availability-related questions asked in the survey are summarized in Figure 3; this shows how employees perceive cultural understandings about bringing alcohol into the workplace and about drinking on the job (if they choose to do so). When viewed together, Figures 1, 2, and 3 demonstrate how closely social control and availability issues are interrelated in the normative regulation of drinking.