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    Alternative articulations : a post-structuralist reading of a programme to change New Zealand's drinking culture : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2006) Hanrahan, Shannon Te Ahu
    The field of alcohol regulation has been highly influenced by the new public health and its diverse attempts at influencing the conduct of individuals and populations to reduce alcohol-related harm. Dominated by objectivist and rationalist approaches, the new public health often fails to account for the critical role of knowledge, power and language in the construction of alcohol-related harm as an issue of governance. It is in response to the hegemony of the new public health approach, and the internal limit points of this discourse, that alternative understandings of the field of alcohol-regulation emerge. This study conducts a post-structural reading of one of those alternative understandings, that of the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand's (ALAC) programme of work known as the culture change programme. Employing the work of Michel Foucault, and in particular, his work on the art of government ("governmentality"), the thesis poses the question: how does ALAC negotiate the tension between those techniques and strategies that compel and coerce individuals and those regimes and frameworks of self-regulation that are calculated to guide individuals' behaviours? ALAC's attempt to govern the field of alcohol-regulation through its relationships with external agencies is examined for answers. Using the post-structural discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, this study examines ALAC's construction of the field of alcohol regulation, and its attempts to influence and engage external agencies in the culture change programme. The findings indicate that ALAC's liberal conceptualisation of the social world does not account for the struggles over meaning that play out through its relationships with external agencies. The study suggests that if ALAC were to reconceptualise its view of the world as an 'open social system,' where meaning is relational, contextual and historically located, a new set of tools becomes available for understanding the future prospects of the culture change programme.
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    "If she's drunk, she's easy" : femininity, binge drinking and music videos : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Naomi, Shobna
    Young New Zealand women continue to drink more than previous generations. Research demonstrates that legislation, access, changing gender roles, identity, marketing and culture contribute to the current desire that many young people, including women, have for the excessive consumption of alcohol. The current study sought to explore popular youth culture, namely music videos, to understand the ways in which young women engage with and understand such media and the role it plays in drinking cultures. Three music videos were used to stimulate discussions surrounding gender, identity and alcohol consumption among four friendship groups, each containing three female participants. Participants were aged between 18-25 years and came from mixed ethnic backgrounds in Auckland, New Zealand. Three music videos were selected for their inclusion of portrayals of femininity and binge drinking (by Katy Perry, The Paradiso Girls and Cobra Starship). The music videos were shown to the groups, and questions prompted discussion following each. The discussions were transcribed verbatim, and subjected to a discursive analysis which identified four key discourses that participants drew on during their discussions. The “contemporary feminist discourse” constructed women as agentic; making conscious choices regarding identity, behaviour and consumption. Limits and boundaries were emphasised in relation to alcohol consumption and self-presentation. The “gender inequality discourse” illustrated women’s inferior positioning in relation to men. It highlighted a tendency to define equality by comparing women directly to men and the tensions this creates. In the “female objectification discourse” music video representations of women were constructed as exploitative, objectifying and unrealistic. Concern was raised over female vulnerability to sexually motivated crimes and exposure to the music videos prompted body image concerns for some participants. Finally, the “normative teenage phase of experimentation discourse” discussed binge drinking in terms of a necessary process for discovering identity and consumption limits, while emphasising the limited temporality of this period. These discourses highlighted a tension between the realities of young female experience and competing ideals presented in popular culture, which illustrates the dilemmatic nature of contemporary femininity.
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    'Let's get wasted!' : a discourse analysis of teenagers' talk about binge drinking : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology (Health Endorsement) at Massey University, Manawatu campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Chainey, Timothy Aarron
    Teenage binge-drinking in New Zealand is a significant health issue that is on the rise. Understanding why teenagers drink in this manner - and whether they perceive their behaviours negatively - is essential to inform practice and policy aimed at reversing undesirable trends. This study used a social constructionist framework to explore how teenagers talked about binge drinking. It aimed to understand why they binge drink by examining the discourses they draw on to construct their behaviour and the subject positions offered by the discourses. Four semi-structured peer group interviews were conducted with 20 teenagers from Palmerston North, aged 16-18 years and with experience of drunkenness and binge drinking. A Foucauldian discourse analysis was conducted on the transcribed data. Participants talked about binge drinking in terms of ‘getting wasted’. A ‘social life’ discourse was used to construct this as ‘fun’ and something all teenagers do – alcohol is an integral part of their social lives. Participants also drew on an ‘alcohol is bad’ discourse, in which they acknowledged the risks and consequences of alcohol use. However, this discourse was actively resisted, which worked to justify their drinking and ensure they were not positioned negatively. How participants talked about getting wasted was also ‘gendered’. Binge drinking was constructed as a masculine activity, with males positioned as drinking to ‘get wasted’ and engage in risky behaviours. Female participants were positioned as drinking more for social reasons, but also with the intention of getting drunk. Alcohol-related sexual experiences provided subject positions when talking about ‘getting wasted’. Both genders were positioned as ‘getting wasted’ to have sex, with males constructed as ‘sex-obsessed animals’, and females as not wanting to admit it. These discourses together constructed ‘getting wasted’ as something positive and teenage-like, and position teenagers as engaging in behaviour that is not harmful or problematic. The findings from this study have implications for reducing this harmful drinking culture, and making drinking safer for teenagers in Palmerston North and New Zealand.
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    "If you only have money for two drinks you might as well have nothing at all" : young people talk about drinking and drug use : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2010) Barclay, Simone M.; Barclay, Simone M.
    Psychoactive consumption is on the rise. In particular young people’s heavy sessional or ‘binge’ drinking has been highlighted in the media because of the burden it places upon public health resources and the risks it poses to health and social order. Youth intoxication has therefore become a prominent issue for policy makers, health promoters and researchers. Previous research suggests excessive drinking amongst young people can be understood in terms of the contemporary commodification of leisure which contributes to a culture of intoxication and facilitates the pursuit of calculated hedonism. The current study investigated the discourses surrounding the intoxication practices of 18 – 24 year olds. Twenty-one male and female participants took part in four friendship group discussions in Auckland, New Zealand. Their talk was subsequently analysed to gain access to young people’s views on drinking and other drug use in the context of socialising. The data was subjected to a Foucauldian discourse analysis and three discourses were identified in the texts: self-regulation, psychosocial development and pleasure. Together, these constituted a web of meaning which constructed drinking and drug use as a constrained, socially appropriate and culturally embedded practice motivated by enjoyment and social enhancement. Participants deliberately pursued states of intoxication, maintaining specific boundaries of appropriateness, means, frequency and degree of inebriation while simultaneously taking measures to mitigate perceived risks. Widespread conceptions of young adults’ heavy sessional consumption as reckless or out of control did not correspond to the young people’s perceptions of themselves as responsible, risk averse, social drinkers. Participants consistently resisted the positioning afforded them by the public discourse of censure surrounding youth intoxication and in doing so located their behaviour as age-appropriate and shaped by wider societal norms. Occasional excesses were constructed as a necessary and beneficial constituent of the maturation process. Results highlight the degree to which the voices of relevant consumer groups have been marginalised in the policy development process and the credibility gap between young people’s experiences and the health promotion messages directed at them. Findings problematise the notion that education about the risks of drinking and drug use will cause young people to moderate their behaviour out of a desire to avoid them. It is suggested that current focus on youth excess unduly attributes blame at the expense of recognising the more pervasive changes required to modify population-wide detrimental drinking cultures.