Informal Social Controls and Their Influence on Substance Use

Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of informal controls that operate in social groups on consumption of alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and food. A literature review provides evidence of five major informal controls—cultural recipes that describe what substances should be used in what amounts to achieve what effects; learning to use through association with others who teach people what, when, why, how, where and with whom to use; sumptuary rules specifying eligibility requirements for use; sanctions that reinforce the learning of substance use conventions and norms; and everyday social relations that make it expedient for people to use in some ways and inconvenient to use in others. The potency of informal controls has some implications for formal policies intended to regulate consumption of substances.