Drinking in France 1965-1979. An analysis of household consumption data.

Alcohol consumption has diminished in France for three decades. In this France is an exception to other industrialized countries. However, in one respect France conforms to a regularity found in longitudinal time-series studies comparing different countries: traditional beverages, in this case wine, have given place to new drinks--beer and imported spirits. In this sense, drinking patterns have become modernized and now resemble those found in other Western industrialized countries. The article, based on a series of household consumption surveys that include purchases of alcoholic beverages by households, studies in what way this modernization is taking place. A break-down of the data by socio-demographic groups shows that saturation as such does not explain the change. The groups that already have been at the lowest level of consumption--the middle classes--have diminished their consumption further and the other groups--the peasantry and the working class--have followed them. The same is true as regards drinking styles, as much as they are revealed by the beverage types. The already modern middle classes have continued to decrease their consumption of wine and the other groups have done likewise but later. In contrast, the rural-urban dimension is and has been weakly related to alcohol use. The development has been parallel both in big cities and rural areas. The analysis by region reveals that in France the use of alcohol and especially wine is no longer related to alcohol production, the way it is in international comparisons--producing countries being also the heaviest consumers. On the other hand, consumption patterns, as reflected in the beverage composition, have not levelled out between regions. One conclusion of the study is that the culturally dominating social dimension in France is that of class. In so far as the lower social groups continue to follow the dominating ones, the development can be expected to continue still for a long time.