A cross-cultural study of folk-tale content and drinking

The Drinking Man • Free Press • New York • Published In • Pages: 48-72 •
By McClelland, David C., Davis, William , Wanner, Eric, Kalin, Rudolf

Abstract

This book chapter tests new and pre-existing theories (Horton, Field, Bacon et al.) for the cause of variation in drinking across cultures. Folktale content is used to test psychological variables more directly than has been done previously. Folktale content is analyzed programmatically with an acknowledged error level of up to one-third. Results lend support to Field's 1962 theory that loose social organization facilitates drinking.

Samples

Sample Used Coded Data Comment
Ethnographic Atlas (EA)CombinationUsed a subsample of 44 societies with adequate folktale material. Used drinking codes from Barry et al. (1965).

Hypotheses (8)

HypothesisSupported
"Horton's subsistence anxiety hypothesis: . . . tribes which drink a lot worry more about food and being hungry" (59)Not Supported
". . . sober societies tend to think more in terms of hierarchy (title, vertical space, and old age) and social control (scheduling and activity inhibition)" (60)Supported
"Barry, Bacon and Child dependency hypothesis: . . . people in drinking societies are basically dependent [on others]" (60)Not Supported
Social drinking will correlate positively with the fantasy themes of sex, aggression, and change of state.Partially supported
"…alcoholic societies may show some preoccupations in the oral mode" (62)Partially supported
"Frequency of achievement responses in childhood is . . . significantly associated with drinking . . . but curiously enough so is frequency of obedience. . . . The two are unrelated so that each contributes independently and significantly . . . [to] drinking" (67)Supported
"Drinking societies use more collateral terms such as aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, and fewer terms signifying the parent-child hierarchy" (69)Supported
"Low male solidarity, non-lineal descent (i.e., bilateral descent), and lack of a jurisdictional hierarchy at the [extra] local level [indicators of low structural differentiation] are all related to each other and to drinking" (64)Supported
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: mas  Tahlisa Brougham