Not only soberly curious, but also newly gentle

Not only soberly curious, but also newly gentle

Updated January 13, 2025 at 11:11 AM ET

In 1900, a former teacher named Carrie Nation walked into a bar in Kiowa, Kansas, declared, “Guys, I'm here to save you from the fate of drunkards,” and began throwing bottles Bricks and stones. These people, less interested in spiritual salvation and more interested in physical safety, fled to a corner. The state destroyed three bars that day, and when she ran out of bricks and stones, she used billiard balls, which she called “the crusher.” She eventually – and famously – turned to an ax, using it for years to attack what she saw as the causes of society's moral failings. She calls this period of her life her “incubation period.”

By contrast, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a mild-mannered physician who may be best known for sounding the alarm about the “loneliness epidemic,” has a stubborn stance on alcohol. The challenge took a softer approach. He recently called for cancer warnings to be added to alcohol products, but he did so without violence or shouting. But the proposal, if adopted, would be the most significant action on alcohol since at least the 1980s, when new laws set the national drinking age at 21 and mandated warnings about alcohol and pregnancy-related risks. Label. Muti's proposal is part of an increasingly grim message from public health officials about moderate drinking and comes at a time of significant shifts in cultural attitudes toward alcohol, particularly among “sober-curious” young people. In 2020, my colleague Olga Khazan asked why no one seemed interested in starting a modern temperance movement. Now, the movement has arrived with a decidedly 21st century twist. Carrie Nation is trying to change the soul of her country. Today's moderation focuses on self-transformation.

The movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries – which eventually led to Prohibition – went hand in hand with broader religious revivalism and women's rights movements. It considers alcohol unhealthy for women, families and the general human condition. In pre-Prohibition America, it's hard to fathom the extent of the problem alcohol posed: In 1830, Americans drank three times the amount of hard liquor we do today, the equivalent of 90 bottles of 80-proof wine per year. Food historian Sarah Vosberg Johnson told me that as distilled spirits became more popular, men wasted much of their wages on alcohol and staying all night in bars, what we now call Domestic violence is also rampant. Members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union saw themselves as a progressive group helping the disadvantaged. “They stopped drinking to protect their families, to protect their families, to protect their country,” Dan Malleck, a professor of health and sciences at Brock University, told me. In the second half of the 19th century, young people demonstrated their moral integrity by swearing off alcohol. virtue.

By contrast, today's sober-curious take to Instagram to post about how Dry January reduces inflammation, sharpens jaw lines, and improves sleep scores. The sanctity of the family, or the overall moral health of society—not to mention the 37 Americans killed every day in drunken driving accidents—seem less worrisome. (To be fair, this focus on health is partly a response to research on the harmful effects of moderate drinking on heart health, cancer risk and lifespan.) In a 2020 Gallup poll, 86% of respondents of people say drinking alcohol is morally acceptable, an increase from 78% in 2018. In contrast, more than half of young people surveyed in 2023 expressed concerns about the health risks of moderate drinking.

(Excerpted from the July/August 2021 issue: America has a drinking problem)

Colleen Myers, a professor at Texas State University who studies how alcoholic beverages change culture, told me that this reaction doesn’t mean that the national conversation about alcohol has abandoned morality — just that Americans’ moral center of gravity has shifted. Drifted. She believes that modern prohibition is guided by one of the great moral projects of our time: self-optimization. in her book sober curiosityRuby Warrington writes that lowering alcohol intake “is the next logical step in the wellness revolution.” Choosing not to drink in an alcohol-soaked culture is viewed as an act of authenticity or self-care, Myers says; society Change, but through individuals. In 2019, she almost echoed Carrie Nation when she told her that a non-alcoholic spirits maker called its product “euphoric” rather than mocktails. new york times”, “Alcohol is a women’s liberation issue, an LGBTTQQIAAP issue, and a racial issue. But her views on moderation were far less socially conscious: Sober curiosity, she said, was about one's “freedom of choice.” One can hardly imagine Congress or radical activists like the National Party trying to pass a ban on the sale of espresso horses. However, the proposed warning label, which is a nod to personal health (and without radical social action), is more appropriate for our health era. It won't cure all of society's ills, but it could at least convince some people to reduce it. Drinking alcohol.

The end result of the original temperance movement—Prohibition—was more ambitious and occurred on a social level. Prohibition did not make personal drinking illegal, but rather the sale, purchase, and transportation of alcohol. After Congress introduced the Eighteenth Amendment in 1917, it took seven years to pass it; due to widespread enthusiasm, states ratified it in just 13 months. The amendment and the Volstead Act implementing it were passed in 1919, and Prohibition was officially launched in 1920.

“I don't think we're going to have Prohibition again” this century, Myers said, especially because sober and curious people don't advocate for such large-scale policy changes. Instead, the new moderates are changing social norms and, yes, moral norms, about alcohol by emphasizing its health effects. Crucially, they are also creating a market and space for non-alcoholic beverages. The original temperance movement also popularized many new beverages, such as soda and juice. But unlike the modern version, it directly attacks the alcoholic beverage industry. In 1916, there were 1,300 breweries in the United States producing full-strength beer; 10 years later, they were all gone.

(From the April 1921 issue: Relative Values ​​in Prohibition)

During Prohibition, alcohol consumption and the number of deaths associated with it dropped significantly. But many people continue to buy alcohol illegally or brew their own. Malek said part of the reason the temperance movement failed to deliver a utopia was that it failed to recognize that other social problems could also contribute to alcoholism, such as low wages or 12-hour factory work days, where you could easily slip into alcoholism. Losing a limb or having to pee in a corner. Even if alcohol is outlawed, these problems still exist. In 1933, during the Great Depression, lawmakers decided the country needed alcohol sales to boost the economy and repealed Prohibition. President Herbert Hoover called Prohibition a noble experiment, but many historians consider it a failure. Today, approximately 60% of Americans drink alcohol, and this number has remained stable for more than four decades.

Over the past few years, however, there have been signs that fewer young people are drinking. If bricks and axes can't convince Americans to change their relationship with alcohol, then maybe the promise of finding the best version of themselves via fake Negronis and non-alcoholic IPAs will.

The article originally misstated Colleen Myers' title and the name of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.