Taking pleasure seriously: Should alcohol research say more about fun?

Abstract

Background: This paper invites discussion on whether pleasure should receive more attention in public health-oriented research on alcohol. While there is a history of sociological and anthropological literature exploring alcohol and pleasure, this is much less common in public health-oriented alcohol research, and associated advocacy.

Argument: We propose three broad reasons why more extensive engagement with issues of pleasure may be important for public health-oriented research. The first is epistemological: because overlooking pleasure risks leaving a gap in knowledge of a key component of, and motive for, drinking. The second is ethical: because the prioritisation of long-term health over shorter-term pleasures is not uncontested, and needs to be explicitly justified. The third is pragmatic: because ceding the discourse on pleasure to other actors (including commercial ones) risks undermining effective engagement with target populations.

Conclusions: There is strong case for more attention to pleasure in public health-oriented alcohol research. Key to this is the further development of interdisciplinary perspectives and mixed-methods research. This brings both conceptual and methodological challenges, many of which remain unresolved; however, bringing these issues to the surface may enable greater clarity on both normative principles (including arguments against research engaging with pleasure) and practical questions concerning the design of research and analysis in this area.