The Distribution of Customary Behavior in a Population: The Total Consumption Model and Alcohol Policy
Abstract
This paper is concerned with a particular strand of thinking that has been interwoven in sociological alcohol research for half a century and has, in some times and places, had a strong influence on policy.
This paper describes the inception and development of the model, the political context in which it emerged and was fought over, and various strands of development building on the model over the decades. The paper then proceeds to consider some limits and anomalies in the model as they have emerged and been debated over the years.
It is concluded that the model has always been inherently sociological in its framing, being concerned with change both at the level of interpersonal interaction and at the level of patterns in a society as a whole and with the relationship between changes at the different levels.