Sociability of Alcohol Consumption and Alcoholism in Times of COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

COVID-19 has changed the social context, but also our ability to act in it. This new normal also influenced the patterns of alcohol consumption. In this sense, the main goal of this paper is a theoretical analysis of COVID-19 context of sociability of alcohol consumption. The paper analyses the ways of establishing the individual meaningfulness of alcohol consumption. The stratification of collective patterns in the context of a pandemic is analysed and the implications of stratification on future drinking patterns, but also on the potential risks of higher alcoholism rates in the future are theo-retically considered. The analysis is based on previous research on the habits of alcohol consumption during quarantine. The rate of alcohol consumption in the studies did not differ significantly from that before quarantine. In some cases, a lower rate of alcohol consumption has been reported. However, the rate of excessive drinking, and socially unregulated drinking, individual drinking, and drinking of a larger number of alcoholic beverages on occasion was on the rise. The theoretical explanation that can be set on the basis of previous research supports the fact that society is responsible for regulating the acceptable alcohol consumption. In the absence of social/cultural influences, an individual consumes alcohol for his own pleasure-it is directed towards himself and not towards society. If this social and value meaningfulness of alcohol consumption is lost, the individual will have a higher risk of developing alcohol dependence. Society is a protec-tive factor in the development of alcohol dependence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, most individuals did not consume alcohol because of the social patterns that that consumption implies (or is an integral part of), but they consumed it because of internal anxiety. The use of alcohol for the purpose of calming the anxiety caused by the pandemic, without an individual reflection on the sociability of alcohol consumption, is a potential public health problem of the future.