Research Blog #4

Vimal Prajapati

Research in the Disciplines

Professor Goeller

October 18th, 2016

Research proposal

Working Title:

The Way Media Shaped Drinking on College Campuses

Topic:

I will research the drinking culture on college campuses, which is greater than the drinking culture outside of college. My paper will look at drinking games and habits of college students and the entire perspective of top down pressure vs bottom up rebellion, specifically at big party school.

Research Question:

Is the excessive drinking and negative drinking habits of college students made sense by  “The Animal House Effect”? Can banning alcohol on college campuses relieve the tension between the top down pressure and the bottom up rebellion or is binge drinking more abstract problem with a more complex solution?

Theoretical Frame:

        After the repeal of prohibition of alcohol in 1933, society still had an uneasy view of alcohol. It was not until around 40 years later that alcohol started gaining popularity again. The baby boomers generation were released from the grip of prohibition mindset and were free to drink at their leisure. Getting drunk gained popularity and spread to the most ideal location for this activity to strive in, college campuses. In a study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), statistics show that “87.6 percent of people ages eighteen or older reported that they drank alcohol… 71% reported that they drank in the past year,” (NIAAA). It was also discovered that about 60% of college students drink and about 40% of college student binge drink. I question whether or not college students have a motive for binge drinking or if binge drinking is due to the portrayal of drinking in the media that influences students to binge drink.

        This topic peaks my interest because I was raised in a household where drinking was never looked down on. So I don’t have a drive to binge drink because its not that significant to me. I am also curious to find out if the media has a direct influence on how we perceive higher education and what benefits alcohol companies get from appealing to such a energetic target market.

Research and Plan:

The research article, “College Binge Drinking and Social Norms: Advancing Understanding Through Statistical Applications,” by Mikyoung Jun, Jon Agley, Chunfeng Huang, and Ruth A. Gassman discuses the extent to which social norms are tied together with drinking in college, specifically binge drinking. Malcolm Gladwell discusses differences in how cultures drink and how much they drink in his article, “ Drinking Games How much people drink may matter less than how they drink it,” I want to show that there could be a correlation between the attitudes of drinking in a different country and the United States. I will also be using the article, “Paying For the Party: How College Maintains Inequality,” specifically to look at something that Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton call, “the Party Pathway”. This article will be able to connect to Malcolm Gladwell piece because the party pathway relates to drinking and the influence of one's environment. I will also be commenting on how non-college students in the same age range drink and how that compares to how college students drink. I will observe how college students binge drink more often than their non-collegiate peers. In another article, titled, “ The Animal House effect: How university- themed comedy films affect students attitudes,” this article will help me tie together the idea of binge drinking and the influence of the movie industry. In addition, to the animal house article, I will reference the article, “Alcohol use in films and Adolescent alcohol Use,” which will discuss the influence of drinking to the adolescent audience. After discussing the influence of the movie industry, i will take a look at social media as a whole and review the article, “NekNominate: Social Norms, Social media, and Binge Drinking”.  All these articles will tie together and I will analyze the effect of top down pressure and how the bottom up is reacting to this pressure. I will conclude my paper by discussing ways to control binge drinking and prevent  students from heavy drinking or over drinking.