Resumo

Alcohol has an important role in the development of social identities, but while there is extensive literature about the role of alcohol in contexts that includes the social and political aspects of production and consumption, use in religious practices, and impact on individual and group experiences, and there are some researchers that argue that social capital is associated with drinking alcohol, no references were found about practical studies that verify if the alcohol drinking intentions and frequency are associated with the leverage of the individual's social capital.

This article has sought to answer two fundamental questions that have been little explored in the literature: specifically, if alcohol consumption is used to leverage individuals’ social capital and if the individual's social capital affects the frequency of drinking. The current study is based on the hypothesis that alcohol consumption frequency and intention are related to social capital leveraging. The primary goal is to test the hypothesis of whether alcohol is used to leverage individuals' social capital and whether the individual's social capital influences the frequency of drinking.

Alcohol is a vigorous force that constructs social life and establishes linkages between various components in a society (Wang & Liu, 2022), defines social boundaries and identity, reflecting social organization and cultural identities (Douglas, 1991). Social capital should be understood both in terms of norms and resources, and it is associated with drinking alcohol (Demant & Jarvinen, 2011). The more alcohol-positive the norms of a person’s peer network are and the higher the consumption level in the network, the more the person tends to drink (Liu, 2021).

A probabilistic survey was carried out with 300 alcohol adopters in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Hanoi, Vietnam. The alcohol social capital indicator and logistics regression, here developed, measure and compare the variables influencing drinking intention. The indicator was created based on the structured questions, with support from the Likert-scale questions. Based on the data provided by the indicator, it was possible to carry out the Levene’s and t-tests to verify if alcohol is used to leverage individual social capital and if there are significant differences in different cultures.

The research findings corroborate the proposition that alcohol has been used to leverage social capital. The alcohol social capital indicator shows that the network, social boundaries, and power and influence are the most influential factors in drinking, and the norms, besides having a positive rate, have no significative influence on drinking frequency in the two samples investigated. Hanoi`s sample has a higher level of alcohol consumption to leverage social capital compared to Belo Horizonte; this discrepancy demonstrates that the intention to use alcohol varies between cultures.

Field evidence allows us to conclude that: i) Alcohol consumption plays an important role in the individual level of social capital, can have a different trend in different cultures, and is used as a means to achieve and leverage resources, expand networks, define social boundaries, and gain power and influence; ii) Regarding the frequency to drink, all the factors investigated have affected the drinking level, with the exception of group norms, which, besides having a positive rate on drinking intention, have no significative influence on drinking frequency in the two samples investigated.

Demant, J.J., & Järvinen, M. (2011). Social capital as norms and resources: Focus groups discussing alcohol. Addiction Research & Theory, 19(2), 91–101. Douglas, M. (Ed.). (1991). Constructive drinking: perspectives on drink from anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Liu, L. (2021). Communal drinking rituals and social formations in the Yellow River valley of Neolithic China. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 63(1). Wang, J., & Liu, L. (2022). Introduction: Alcohol, rituals, and politics in the ancient world, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 65, 101397.