Drinking problems: Europe vs United States

After traveling to many parts of the world, I have come to notice a major difference in the Alcohol consumption age between different countries. One of the main things that stuck out was how old a person had to be to drink in the United States. Throughout the World, most countries set the drinking age bellow eighteen and enforce it at a much lower extreme then that of the United States, where one has to be twenty-one years old to have any alcoholic beverage. For many years, the United States have had this raised drinking age to combat alcohol related deaths. Although I see the good intentions behind raising the drinking age, I find that the outcome is flawed and a great example in the break of structural functionalism of our society. The way I plan to look at this problem is through the functional analysis method. The functional analysis method looks at a society as one whole functioning unit. When society sees a flaw in that unit, people take action to correct any unit functioning incorrectly in that society.  In this situation, the United States has a problem with drinking related deaths that could be fixed by the right adjustments in our society.

            After the United States raised the drinking age, studies began to form based on if this was a good idea. A recent study showed that people in North America consume 2.5 gallons of ethanol annually through alcohol consumption. This is beyond the global average of 1.6 gallons but under the European rate of annual consumption, which is at 3.1 gallons. Even though Europeans drink more that Americans, the rate of alcohol related deaths in Europe is lower than in the United States. This includes deaths from drunk driving. (Palicz 2009)

            When one compares problem drinking in the Untied states and Europe on will see many differences in the way the European society is structured. Some of Europe’s societal structures may offer reformation help to the United States. European society offers three major structures for correction to the United States. These stuctures are early exposure, later driving age and alternate transportation.

            Through early exposure to alcohol by a child’s parents, kids learn how to control their alcohol intake and learn by parental example the rules of drinking. In Europe, it is not uncommon for a child to have a glass of wine at dinner when he or she is with their parents, even if the child is as young as ten years old. Through this exposure, the child is able to learn from their parents the rights and wrongs of alcohol. This makes them much safer with alcohol at an older age. This is apposed to the pattern of drinking developed by Americans. Americans often aren’t taught how to control their drinking by their parents, but have to figure out it for themselves. This can lead to unstable drinking habits.

            Europeans mostly begin to drive at the age of eighteen, two years later than United State citizens. With an early drinking age and a late driving age, teenagers figure out how to control their drinking before they begin to drive. This should lessen the drinking and driving rate when the teenagers turn eighteen. In the United States, teenagers are licensed to drive at the age of sixteen. Five years later, they are allowed to legally drink. By this point, these people have already gotten very comfortable and confident with their driving abilities. They could even look at drinking and driving as easy or a challenge to their driving skills because they have become so confident in their driving at this point.

            Finally, Europe provides many other forms of alternate transportation, such as the metro, trains and busses. These provide Europeans cheep transport throughout major cities and places where they might partake in alcohol consumption, decreasing the rate of drinking and driving. In the United States, these forms of easy transportation are found a lot less often and not nearly in the sane quantity as the complicated networks that cover most of the European continent. A quote from the Washington Post stated, "I think in the U.S., there is an expectation to have your own car. It's not that young people in Europe are more careful. It's that they haven't got the car." (Richburg) This is because young people in Europe are offered these other forms a transportation that allow them to move around without a car.

            So is it a really a good idea to lower the drinking age? Would it really lessen the amount of causalities that we suffer in the United States? At this point there’s really only one way to find out, to really try it. Here is a video I would like to share of a CNN debate on lowering the drinking age in the United States. 

References:

Richburg, Keith. "European Laws Place Emphasis On the Driving, Not the Drinking." The Washington Post. N.p., 2004. Web. 19 Sep 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35079-2004Dec29.html>.

PALICZ, ALEX. "Should the U.S. Drinking Age be Lowered?." CNN.com. CNN, 2001. Web. <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0107/29/sun.08.html>.