Contemporary Adulthood and the Night-Time Economy

O. Smith

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137344526
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book examines the experiences of those dedicated drinkers at the forefront of the new night-time leisure industries that revolutionized the way we think about our city centres. Smith uses the night-time leisure economy as a lens through which to view the relationship between global consumer capital and the erosion of 'traditional' adulthood.

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Introduction

This book examines how and to what extent the night-time economy (NTE) maintains its allure to committed adult consumers as they leave their twenties behind, and plough inexorably into what would traditionally be termed ‘adulthood’. Utilising original qualitative data drawn from an extended group of individuals between the ages of 30 and 40 living in a city in the north of England, I attempt to make sense of the deep emotional and aesthetic attachment many people develop to urban drinking cultures. Of particular interest is the utility of these consumerised leisure markets for youth identities, cultures and social networks and the extent to which these change over time as the individual’s circumstances adapt to the changing social requirements of each phase of the life course. On a more abstract level, I am interested in the relationship between the subjective experience of social reality and the overarching influences that shape the social and cultural world. Perhaps young consumers are ‘captured’ by the ideology of liberal capitalism. Alternatively, the cultures of the NTE may serve as creative and organic structures free from the influence of the dominant ideology. It might even be reasonable to propose that the cultures of the NTE are politically resistant to capitalist hegemony, that the cultural life of the NTE is structured around a ‘taking back’ of this cultural ground from the dour corporatist agenda. In attempting to explore these possible interpretations, I hope to move beyond the predictable sociological dichotomy of agency and structure and offer a reading of ‘youth’ lifestyles and consumer desires that skirts around bombastic critique of critical sociology as determinism while avoiding the gaping pitfalls of postmodern relativism and liberal sociology’s focus on discursive, liberating, do-it-yourself identities. Drawing upon data taken from a detailed and extended ethnographic study, my hope is to add to the sociological understanding of youth transitions, consumerism and identity and the orderly disorder of the NTE.

Excessive consumption of alcohol has in recent years constituted a significant proportion of current affairs discussion and prompted a huge growth in academic literature, addressing the urban economy and youth cultural practice (Engineer et al., 2003; Hobbs et al., 2003; Hadfield, 2006; Measham, 2008). New, punitive methods of control appear to be announced with startling regularity by policy-makers, despite seeming at odds with the enthusiasm and verve with which the New Labour government pushed for and achieved the relaxing of the nation’s licensing laws only a few years previously (see Chatterton and Hollands, 2003; Hadfield, 2006). The shock tactics of ‘social marketing’, which play on social anxieties and often draw upon a perhaps mythic desire to be socially responsible, have combined with new police and local authority powers to ‘crack down’ on alcohol consumption outside of regulated spaces. Recent examples include the 2008 banning of alcohol on the London Underground and the increased powers for police and community support officers to confiscate alcohol being consumed in public places, and the 2013 call from the Association of Chief Police Officers for the introduction of privately run ‘drunk tanks’ in which to deposit those who have transgressed those boundaries of ‘acceptable’ alcohol use that lie beneath the veneer of hedonism. These policy interventions aim to create the impression that the government is committed to controlling alcohol consumption although only to the extent that their relationship with the alcohol industry remains unharmed. Many of these measures appear to focus disproportionately on the poor, while the drinking behaviours of the wealthy are by implication viewed as unproblematic. Even the widely publicised violence and destruction of the Bullingdon Club¹ are usually meekly framed as little more than ‘twittishness’ (to use Boris Johnson’s phrase). These contradictory themes within government policy inevitably result in a renewed focus on the ‘disorderly consumer’ and reiterate the government’s commitment to its responsibilisation agenda, which most critical commentators believe is hopelessly flawed and ignorant of the broader social, cultural and economic forces that underlie decision-making, not least within the sphere of commodified leisure (Reiner, 2007; Winlow and Hall, 2009).

This book constitutes an important extension to the body of work surrounding alcohol consumption and the NTE. The vast majority of the academic literature that has addressed excessive alcohol use in this specific cultural sphere has focused upon the social behaviours of young people in their teenage years and early twenties (Engineer et al., 2003; Plant and Plant, 2006). This focus is of course entirely reasonable, and while trend data for alcohol consumption among the 16–24 age group suggests a slight decline in the proportion of young people consuming alcohol over the past decade (ONS, 2013), data also suggests that this demographic are more likely to ‘binge’ when they do drink.

However, the relative absence of interest in these drinkers as they age is perplexing, as it is this generation who were the trail-blazers, the first generation to structure their weekend leisure in relation to the post-industrial urban drinking cultures that came to typify the city centre after dark during the early nineties. The hopes, attitudes and aspirations of this generation of young people are deeply indicative of the fundamental changes that accompanied the almost universal adoption of neoliberalism among the polity and the broader, more opaque influence of postmodernism upon cultural and internal life. After all, they are old enough to remember the last vestiges of organised industrial modernism, and they have become adults in an age in which most of the certainties of that time have been dispensed with. Their generation grew up in the NTE and, as we will see, many now appear incapable of ignoring its allure. Despite looking older than most of the other regulars, they continue onwards and in doing so prompt the development of new niche markets, defined new trends and new products that attempt to speak to the desires of those unwilling to cash in their chips and move on.

Many studies that address youth involvement in the NTE have failed to contribute anything more than a general description of youthful cultural innovation (see, for example, Engineer et al., 2003, who explain the attractions of night-time leisure as little more than an underlying desire of young people to ‘have a laugh’). It’s now clear that the field must utilise new ideas and new approaches if we are to discover new truths relating to the compelling experience of night-time leisure. Part of this process must involve an acceptance that not everyone who utilises the services of the bars and nightclubs that give the NTE its character are between the ages of 18 and 25. In the standard sociological manner, we must try to explain and understand the key components of this culture and why they are so attractive to such a broad range of people. We need to try and make sense of the diversity we see in night-time leisure venues and trends, while identifying what it is that makes older drinkers keep coming back.

A number of commentators have echoed Côté (2000) in his discussion of the protraction of youth within the life course (see, for example, Tanner and Arnett, 2009). However, a more thorough unpacking of the actual processes at work that induce the levels of infantilisation and narcissism suggested by the likes of Barber (2007) and Hall et al. (2008) is certainly necessary. I return to these concepts quite often, but at this stage it is perhaps worth stating quite clearly that I will use them in the precise psychoanalytical sense. I am not in any way offering a conservative critique of youthful or marginalised groups and their cultural characteristics. My goal here is simply to move the debate forwards by drawing on work that usually lies outside of the restrictive boundaries of contemporary sociology. I address this point in more detail later in the book.

Before the economic collapse of 2008, young people had more disposable income and easier access to credit than at any time previously. While their future employment prospects were uncertain, a combination of student loans, Educational Maintenance Allowance and interest-free overdrafts, alongside short-term employment opportunities in retail and service industries (Lloyd, 2013) afforded many the opportunity to engage in unparalleled consumption. They tended to have few, if any traditional responsibilities resting on their shoulders and were subject to a broad range of social pressures that propelled them towards the night-time drinking experience.

However, as we will examine more closely in the following chapters, the first ‘generation’ of drinkers targeted by changes in local government and laissez-faire policies toward the expansion of the NTE are now in their thirties. As such, the individuals who form the basis of this research are inconsistent with the ‘drinking arc’ narrative (Maggs and Schulenberg, 2004; Seaman and Ikegwuonu, 2010) which suggests that growing ‘maturity’ can be linked to a marked moderation in consumption. Indeed, there appears to be a general assumption of young consumers that ‘they’ll grow out of it’ (Wright, 1999: 38). Data tends to support the argument that excessive drinking behaviours are lingering further into adulthood for a much greater proportion of the population than we might assume (Smith and Foxcroft, 2009). The Office for National Statistics (2013a) reports that 25% of men, and 20% of women between the ages of 25 and 44 drank ‘heavily’ on at least one day in the previous week, compared to 22% of men and 17% of women aged 16–24.

The giant conglomerates responsible for the rise to prominence of most of the major pub and bar chains across the United Kingdom (the most notable of which are perhaps All Bar One, The Living Room, Pitcher & Piano, The Slug and Lettuce, and Walkabout) appear to have recognised this fact and tailored spaces and experiences in order to cater for their customers’ changing and assiduously cultivated tastes, while the behemoth of global capitalism’s consumer ideology plays its part by ensuring that they remain convinced that all manner of personal pleasures, alongside tangible and intangible social benefits, are to be found in the NTE. These bars offer an experiential adventure firmly grounded in consumer signification. Patrons believe they are purchasing the experience of exclusivity and indulgent, rarefied hedonism while being surrounded by a group of like-minded, informed and critical consumers, all of whom reaffirm each other’s belief that they are consuming tastefully and that the highly priced drinks are somehow ‘worth it’. Beyond the sale of alcohol, the bar is aiming to retain an amorphous sense of ‘cool’ (see Frank, 1998; Heath and Potter, 2006), which becomes commodified and distinguishes it within a highly competitive marketplace. In this context, consumers are encouraged to develop an appreciation for the taste and sign value of alcoholic beverages. The cultural context of consumer exclusivity means that the cheapness and alcoholic strength of the drinks is not foregrounded, and can appear quite tawdry to this self-identified metropolitan elite. Consequently, these older consumers are targeted with a range of cocktails rather than ready-to-drink alcopops, a vast selection of wines and an array of olives and sun-dried tomatoes that serve as up-market bar snacks. Lighting, seating, bar-backs, menus and music are often conscientiously designed to appeal to older drinkers. The goal is to encourage customers to identify with the bar in a process of mutual recognition, and ideally a magical intertwining of bar and clientele should take place. The decor, music and ambience should fit neatly with the tastes, dispositions and aspirations of those who return and find comfort and affirmation in its sights and sounds. For those keen to experience the more immediate, visceral delights of the NTE, and for those who believe the wine bar circuit to be populated by poseurs, there is little inducement to enter. Inevitably, there is another bar, another club, another pub that somehow fits, and all are encouraged to believe that their tastes have primacy, that their approach to intoxication is the right one, and that other denizens of the night fail to consume in the correct manner.

Some pubs and bars appear to be predominantly populated by couples or groups of couples – a clear signal that traditional markers of ‘adulthood’ and responsibility are no barrier to fulfilling immersion within the NTE. Of course, as Beck (1992) and Bauman (1998a) have been keen to point out, relationships are increasingly fraught with risk and uncertainty, compelling many individuals to seek and defend their own subjective interests. As we will see, some men and women appear drawn towards seeking sexual conquests in ever-greater numbers, and while this may not be entirely new, it is certainly a demonstrable characteristic of some of the dedicated night-time consumers entering the twilight of their youth. Others attempt to put a string of failed relationships behind them as they continue to seek ‘the one’ endlessly promised by myriad cultural and marketing devices; the NTE caters for all of these and more.

Some researchers have focused only upon the surface details of this process and portray consumers as essentially defining their own drinking experience through creativity and innovation (Jayne et al., 2010). Of course, what is missing from this kind of analysis is a detailed appreciation of the ability of the market to adapt and thrive on consumer diversity. These commentators appear unwilling to countenance the possibility that the surface diversity they champion may not be a clear indication of the innate ability of the consumer to control and determine his or her own cultural engagement. This surface diversity may actually reflect the very energy the contemporary marketplace needs to renew itself. Of course, consumer capitalism needs to maintain the illusion of diversity and constant innovation if it is to avoid the bland consumer universality that would sound its death knell. The range of pubs and bars often reflects nothing more than deliberately cultivated niche markets, beneath which lies nothing more innovative than profit accumulation enabled by the skilful manipulation of consumer desire. This is not to say that the consumer is merely a manipulated cipher occupying a desolate neoliberal landscape in which all individuality and creativity have been crushed by evil corporations. Instead, I want to develop an analysis that attempts to rethink the relationship between the subject and the objective environment of the NTE. I want to think about the pressures placed upon this population and the needs, desires and motivations of my research sample, and I want to move away from the baseless optimism and progressivism that constitutes much that has been written about youth cultures and contemporary forms of leisure.

The emergence of a NTE that caters for its customers as they progress through their life course has to date been largely ignored within academic literature. For most authors it seems to be assumed that young people will simply ‘give up’ the reckless preoccupations of youth as they age and adopt the characteristics of the socially embedded and respectable ‘adult’ (see Matza, 1990). However, examination of the meanings and associations the over-thirties apply to and extract from their continued involvement in urban drinking cultures is certainly worthy of attention. In an effort to explore the social, cultural and economic processes that perpetuate the allure of the NTE, and to understand how the traditional responsibilities of adulthood are evaded or mediated, I will attempt to illuminate the life-worlds of a sample of people who are experiencing a crucial biographical progression that is now fraught with risk, uncertainty and the promise of self-fulfilment through the pursuit of hedonistic pleasures. I will investigate the meanings they draw from the cultural context of alcohol consumption and explore the troubling contention that ‘traditional’ adulthood is being eroded by a powerful historical trend that is destabilising identity, cultivating narcissism, social competition and instrumentality and essentially infantilising a generation.

Chapter outline

After a brief history of the study area, I will offer a description and defence of the research methods I have used to gather the data that forms the foundation of this book. Chapter 2 outlines the social and economic backdrop against which we have witnessed the staggering growth of commodified leisure and, more pertinently, the NTE. The decline of heavy industrial production in the West prompted a profound change in the nature of British society. Our ‘real’ economy is now driven by the selling of goods and services to one another, and this rather stark fact should be understood within the context of the recent crises of fictitious capital (see, for example, Keen, 2010; Dumeil and Levy, 2013) which many believed had become Britain’s passport to ever-increasing wealth and prosperity. Leisure time, and its relative importance to the individual underwent a period of growth (see Rojek, 1989), although there is some indication that the ascension of leisure was short-lived. Today an argument could be made that the affective labour of social media, and the constant stream of email to mobile devices is in fact contributing to a contraction of real leisure time and a blurring of the boundaries between work and leisure. What we can say for sure is that consumerism and conspicuous consumption was becoming increasingly embedded within mass culture. From within a maelstrom of social and economic change and the rapid erosion of traditional forms of social structure, numerous forms of commodified leisure were to arise, of which the alcohol industry is perhaps the most conspicuous, growing into a financial behemoth integral to the nation’s economy.

Chapter 3 looks more closely at the specific conditions that have given rise to the night-time leisure economy as we understand it today. It places specific cultures of alcohol consumption – the determined drunkenness commonly referred to as ‘binge drinking’ against the commodified experience offered by the night-time high street, and the core socioeconomic changes outlined in the previous chapter. It seems unlikely that authentic modes of liberation are to be found in the NTE, which makes it all the more important that we attempt to understand the attraction of these spaces to consumers. How can we explain the enduring allure of these spaces to an ostensibly adult cohort, and what is the relationship between committed engagement with the NTE and other facets of life, adulthood and employment?

Chapter 4 explores how marketing and branding within the NTE represent a triumph of the symbolic over the material, a reflection of consumer society more broadly. The marketisation of the NTE ensures that all preferences and ages are catered for. These tend to be assiduously managed spaces, each competing for market share within their particular niche.

Chapter 5 engages with the process of becoming ‘adult’ under contemporary global capitalism. Changes in the way that individuals make their transitions to adulthood, changing perceptions of ‘youth’ and the drive towards the infantilisation of consumer populations (Barber, 2007; Hall et al., 2008) all contribute to the powerful allure of the NTE. Each of these social trends will be explored in detail in this chapter.

Chapter 6 contextualises some of the wider themes that are present within this piece of work with a more in-depth consideration of the drinking biographies of two of my participants, Rob and Andrea. Both these participants acted as ‘gatekeepers’ (see Whyte, 1959) to aspects of the NTE that I would otherwise have been unable to enter unobtrusively, and have thus contributed to this work significantly. Their inclusion, and an appreciation of their individual drinking biographies, serves as a valuable aid for unpacking and understanding a number of concepts that surface repeatedly over the following pages.

Chapter 7 explores the desires and motivations that are tangled up with continued and unabated participation withi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Socioeconomic Change, Work and Leisure
• 3 Binge Britain
• 4 Consuming the City
• 5 Youth, Adulthood and the NTE
• 6 Drinking Biographies
• 7 Desire, Motivation and the NTE
• 8 Identity
• 9 Work, Friendship and the NTE
• 10 Conclusions and Futures
• Epilogue
• Notes
• References
• Index