Alkohol och äldre

Abstract

M. Abrahamson: Old people's values and ideals in the public call for writing “Alcohol in my life” The aim was to investigate how old people – who during their lives have experienced the displacement of drinking's moral border from soberness to moderate drinking – are presenting themselves, and their values, and attitudes towards alcohol. Thirty-one answers to the autobiographical question list “Alcohol in my life” from informants born between 1914 and 1930 were scrutinized using a qualitative thematic analysis. The results displayed two different repertoires for writing about the shifting experiences of alcohol during the life course: the sober repertoire and the moderate repertoire. Within the sober repertoire alcohol was important and abstention was an organizing principle for life. Within the moderate repertoire, however, alcohol was presented as natural and unimportant. In common for both repertoires was the significance of alcohol in the context of social intercourse. In the sober repertoire it was crucial to show the sobriety in such a way that it should not bother people around. In the moderate repertoire it was crucial to take part in the social drinking without seemingly being affected by alcohol and at the same time stress the personal lack of need for alcohol. Even though both repertoires were filled with moral values of right and wrong they were characterized by an absence of moralistic judgements of others’ alcohol habits, with the exception of young people's drinking habits. Then values appeared which put forward young people's life in former times as good examples.