Alcohol in Hebridean culture: 16th-20th century.

Abstract

This paper sets out to document certain cultural antecedents to alcohol use in a British community. In order to demonstrate the extent to which patterns of alcohol consumption arise within broader social and cultural contexts, drinking practices on the Western Isles of Scotland are examined in light of specific social, economic and religious changes which have taken place between the 16th and 20th centuries. This paper thus seeks to argue that drinking practices are historical in that they arise within the context of the social and material conditions of a given epoch.