From Institute of Historical Research, London, "Reviews in History" >Return-path: <[log in to unmask]> >Content-return: allowed >Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 14:27:35 +0100 (BST) >From: Anne Shepherd <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Reviews in History - Hilton on Burnett's Liquid Pleasures >To: [log in to unmask] >Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask] > > >PLEASE NOTE: The author's response follows next. > >Reviews in History > >John Burnett >Liquid Pleasures: A Social History of Drinks in Modern Britain >London: Routledge, 1999, pp. viii + 254. > >Reviewed by Matthew Hilton >University of Birmingham > >Over the last thirty years, there has been a phenomenal rise in the number >of soft drinks consumed in Britain. Although many commercial sugar-based >beverages were first developed around the mid- to late-nineteenth century, >it was not until the 1960s and the initial mass popularity of Coca Cola >that cold, non-alcoholic, bottled drinks began to constitute a substantial >proportion of the total number of drinks consumed. By 1995, around 20 per >cent of all drinks bought in this country were soft drinks. According to >John Burnett, this trend represents a `cold drinks revolution', a >transformation in our Liquid Pleasures comparable in scale to the `hot >beverages revolution' of the late-seventeenth century. > >What becomes apparent throughout Burnett's welcome and authoritative >volume is that Britain's drinking habits have always been subject to rapid >change. Over the last few centuries there has been nothing stable or >traditional in the manner in which people have drunk. Beers and ales have >undergone continual development, from the introduction of bitter-tasting >hops in the fifteenth century to the popularity of commercially-brewed >porter in the eighteenth century. The importation of the exotic >caffeine-based drinks of tea and coffee in the seventeenth century marked, >anticipated and perhaps even encouraged the profound social changes >associated with the rise of the middle class in the eighteenth century. >The industrial revolution brought about several changes, from the >confirmation of cheap tea as a universal drink, to the decline of >privately-brewed beer and the re-emergence of gin palaces in the 1830s, a >hundred years after the spirit had first prompted Hogarth's famous prints. >At the same time urbanisation and declining living standards reduced the >amount of milk consumed and folk recipes such as small beer were >forgotten, replaced with the new commercial soft drinks manufactured by >Robinsons and Schweppes. Rising incomes at the turn of the twentieth >century encouraged the growth of a leisure industry which forced the pub >to compete with the music hall, the football ground and, eventually, the >cinema, distractions which led to a long-term fall in beer sales. >Governments also intervened to follow up their purification of the water >supply with an encouragement of milk consumption. As John Burnett so >convincingly emphasises, none of these drinks can be studied in isolation, >the history of each demonstrating the fluctuating patterns of demand borne >of the competition that has always existed between rival Liquid Pleasures. > >Despite such an emphasis on the inter-related history of different drinks, >Burnett's vast range of material has forced him to adopt a structure in >which each drink is examined in a separate chapter, before a conspectus >draws out the major themes. Within each chapter there is sufficient >material for a separate monograph, (1) as Burnett skilfully and >entertainingly recounts the story of water, milk, tea, coffee, soft >drinks, beer, wine and spirits from their early origins through to the >present day. Each chapter is organised according to similar principles, >with Burnett usually beginning by outlining the early history of the >drink, before detailing its relationship to the `hot beverages revolution' >of the late seventeenth century and the changed social structures of the >eighteenth. The industrial revolution always loom large in each narrative >as does the question of adulteration and government intervention, issues >present in Burnett's previous work.(2) The commercial changes of the new >mass consumer society are then outlined, before each chapter finishes with >a sketch of changing post-war patterns of consumption. > >Such a history lends itself to anecdote and Burnett nicely blends the >illuminating example with his clear descriptions of the economic data of >demand. Thus, in his discussion of small beer we learn that nettle beer >was popular in Lancashire and bog wortle in Yorkshire; that beer drinkers >used to prefer a mixture of a sweet heavy ale, a lighter hopped beer and a >weaker table beer, a blend which encouraged the commercial development of >porter which to some degree matched the taste of the three combined; that >Samuel Pepys variously drank ale, wine, claret, orange juice and champagne >for breakfast; that `taking the waters', or visiting a spa town, usually >meant drinking water rather than bathing in it; that foundrymen and >forgemen working in temperatures of 90-140øF could get through from 8 to >24 pints of weak homebrew per shift; and that Georgian physicians held >that `saline waters had valuable purgative effects, chalybeate waters >containing iron had tonic and restorative properties, sulphur waters were >good for the skin and complexion, while others were claimed to cure gout, >stone and rheumatism' (p. 10). Such close attention to detail is matched >by a broad understanding of historical context which makes for some >excellent interpretative speculations. For instance, in discussing the >falling rates of milk consumption in the early nineteenth century, Burnett >sees fit to mention that the protective Corn Laws encouraged the >cultivation of land rather than the grazing of dairy cattle, thus reducing >the milk supply. More imaginatively, he argues persuasively for an >attention to physical environment in explaining demand. While here we >might all be familiar with the argument that poor quality housing >encouraged many men to stay in the public house, Burnett also argues that >the land enclosures reduced the supply of free wood available to >working-class homes with the consequence that both home baking and home >brewing were discouraged. > >The strength of Burnett's work lies in its authoritative account of the >separate histories of water, milk, tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer, wine >and spirits. He manages to condense a wealth of information into clear, >engaging essays which, by examining drink throughout the `modern' period >of history (1650 to the present), identify the more important trends and >fluctuations in consumption. He has combined an extensive knowledge of the >secondary literature with much archival research, producing, in his >chapter on beer drinking at least, a much needed history of a central >aspect of British popular culture which has been long overdue. He >combines economic, social and cultural history and stresses throughout the >importance of political factors to this history as well. He thus follows a >recent trend in the study of consumer society which has looked to the role >of the state in influencing demand, though his previous work on >adulteration and government legislation might be seen to have preceded >this type of analysis.(3) For instance, in his chapter on milk, he emphasis >the importance of fears over physical degeneration which prompted the >Edwardian governments to form Infant Welfare Centres and Milk Depots where >mothers could obtain bottles of sterilised milk at 2d. for a day's supply. >Such intervention in consumption set important precedents for the role of >the welfare state which would be followed by the establishment of the Milk >Marketing Boards in 1933 and the provision of free school milk from 1946. >In other chapters, too, Burnett describes the role of government in, for >example, the retail licensing of tea, in the setting of high excise duties >for coffee, in the regulation of drinking hours in pubs and in the >municipalisation of the water supply following a series of cholera >epidemics in the mid-nineteenth century. > >The stated approach of Burnett is to examine the history of drinks beyond >any purely realist notions of physiological need or innate desire. He >claims that he wishes to give attention to economic considerations while >accepting that economic historians have looked too much at supply. >Instead, referring to the sociological and anthropological literature of >Grant McCracken and Mary Douglas, he argues for a study of drinks that >accepts that consumption is a consequence of society as well as being >constitutive of it. This is hardly a novel argument within material >cultural studies, but Burnett deserves considerable praise for offering a >history in which a rich economic narrative of demand statistics is located >within a broad social, if not always cultural, context. Thus, in his >chapter on spirits, he is able to argue that the three most important >factors in understanding their role in the nineteenth century are firstly, >that whisky (in Scotland) and gin (in England) were antidotes to the >psychological and physical pressures of industrial life; secondly, that >spirits came under moral and religious attack from the temperance campaign >from as early as 1828; and, thirdly, that consumption was, and must >always be, determined by price. > >Burnett's preference for the economic or materialist interpretation really >comes through in his conspectus. The vast majority of his overall >explanation for the changing history of drinks is devoted to `material >reasons': that supply had to be there in the first place; that demand had >to be affordable; that physical conditions were important to consumption; >that environmental factors influenced both demand and supply; and that >the role of the state was crucial. These are all extremely important >considerations and need to be stressed in any history of consumption, but >the emphasis he places on them makes it disappointing that the >`non-material reasons' are not explored further. These cultural issues >are summarised in just one paragraph: > > Drinks are consumed not only, or even mainly, > because they are available and affordable: they > have to desired and enjoyed. Alcoholic drinks have > always contributed to conviviality, celebration > and festivity, and through their varying rituals > confirmed membership and fellowship within groups: > beer and wine represented differences in social > status but shared the common element of > sociability, `the framework and introduction for > conversation and conviviality'. While alcohol in > moderation liberated the drinker from mundane > restraints and anxieties, the adoption of the > caffeine drinks depended on a different set of > social attributes. It was initially important that > they were expensive novelties, which thereby > defined the social superiority of users: they > announced status publicly, and were `in the > fashion' as markers of modernity at a time of new > thought in art, science and politics. It was > probably not so important in the first place that > these drinks were immediately enjoyed as they were > seen to be consumed. The reason why caffeine > drinks were adopted by the bourgeoisie were > somewhat different. Social emulation was doubtless > important for some people, but tea and coffee for > this class carried other meanings, of sobriety and > seriousness, increasing mental activity without > the impairing effects of alcohol. In the Age of > Enlightenment it was a rational use of time for > men to drink these beverages, for women part of > `the civilising process' that was bringing more > polite manners and gentler relationships into > domestic life. Louis Lewin believed that caffeine > could `sterilise nature and extinguish carnal > desires': certainly, it did not stimulate sexual > virility of physical passion. As tea later moved > into mass consumption it lost its original > associations with novelty and luxury to become, > above all, the drink of morality and > respectability, firmly linked with the religious > revival and the temperance movement and, more > generally, with Victorian values of work, thrift > and sobriety.[188-9] > >While the material explanations offered in his conspectus are a summary of >the excellent accounts provided in the separate chapters these >non-material factors were not explored by any means as thoroughly; a >cultural studies scholar would be able to conjure up a book from every one >of the above sentences. > >Liquid Pleasures fulfils its primary task of presenting an entertaining, >general, informative and authoritative history of drinks in Britain. >Where further research might be conducted is on these more cultural >issues, though one might suggest that Burnett himself ought to have >incorporated them more thoroughly if he really is committed to emphasising >the cultural context of the economic act of consumption. One explanation >for the lack of an overarching culturalist interpretation is that >Burnett's subject matter is defined purely by it physical properties: >water, milk, tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer, wines and spirits appear >together purely because they are liquids. They are not linked according to >some psychological or cultural property such as that found in Goodman, >Lovejoy and Sherrat's history of drugs, or what they crucially term, >`psychoative substances' (including caffeine), which then lends itself to >an analysis of the centrality of a particular type of consumption to >everyday life.(4) > >Of the general interpretative frameworks that are employed, the importance >of the physical environment might warrant further attention. For instance, >Burnett does make use of the material collected by Mass-Observation, but >much more might be made of this organisation's anthropology of behaviour >in pubs, especially in regard to the preferences for particular types of >beer, the social and cultural dynamics involved in the different rooms of >the pub (the vaults, snug, bar and saloon), and the weekly rhythms of >drinking rituals according to the day of the week.(5) Similarly, Burnett >does make mention of the coffee houses of the eighteenth century but, >given the reference to rationality and `the Age of Enlightenment', it is >surprising that no mention is made of civil society and the public sphere, >even if they were only included to dismiss some of the more exaggerated >claims of Habermas' analysis of the coffee house.(6) Finally, in his >description of the milk bars of the 1930s and the espresso bars of the >1950s, more might have been made of the studies of youth culture, >particularly those on the use of drinks and commercial commodities within >various post-war subcultures.(7) Such close attention to the context of >consumption has proved particularly useful in drawing out the relationship >between masculinity and femininity in relation to material culture, but >these gender issues are also given little attention in Liquid Pleasures.(8) > >At times, Burnett stresses the importance of advertising in stimulating >demand, especially with regard to soft drinks and beer, and he is >particularly good at tracing the collective advertising slogans such as >`Drink More Milk' (1922), `Pinta Milka Day' (1958) and `Beer is Best' >(1933). The literature on advertising in Britain is by no means as >comprehensive as that which has recently appeared on America, and it would >have been useful for Burnett to have extended his brief analyses to >respond to the problematic interpretations so far developed by Loeb and >Richards.(9) However, apart from the four postcards which appear on the >front cover, there is no presentation of the visual evidence of Liquid >Pleasures. Had the imagery of drink been studied in more depth then again >issues of masculinity and femininity might have been more thoroughly >explored as well as the more general issue of identity. Burnett does deal >very well with the issue of social status, but drinks have also been used >to explore individual identity and to present images of the self to others >within one's socio-cultural environment. > >Many of these issues may seem peripheral to the author's concerns and he >should not be criticised too much for what he has not included, since the >socio-economic approach he does offer is largely convincing and a useful >corrective to the overtly culturalist turn of many recent studies. >However, his realist or material approach does detract from his analysis >in a number of ways. One final point that should be mentioned here is the >history of health and medicine offered in the book. While Burnett is very >good in outlining the medical properties ascribed to the various drinks in >the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, seeing such health claims as >products of their time, he does not pursue the theme, except with a brief >mention of advertising. Instead, he too readily accepts the medical >evidence of more recent decades and he offers the notion of addiction as >an explanation for the growth in coffee consumption [p.91]. It might be >argued that coffee is merely habit forming and that the authority of the >claim that it is addictive is dependent on the nature and position of >scientific knowledge over the last 150 years. > >While this point is an incredibly minor one, what I hope it does is >emphasise the fact that many of the interpretations which Burnett offers >as real or material, may in fact be the products of historical >circumstance. This should not detract from the excellent approach and >analysis provided in Liquid Pleasures, an approach I think he has been >largely correct to adopt. It is mentioned merely to highlight the ways in >which the history of drink might be extended. As Burnett himself argues >in the introduction: `"needs" came to be determined not by physiological >requirements but in terms of cultural "wants"'[p.4]. However, in his >subsequent and definitive focus on price, supply, environment and the >state, his analysis of the `non material reasons' is by no means as >complete. > >April 2000 > >_______________________________ >1 Indeed, Burnett's work probably anticipates some more >detailed studies: W. Gutzke, Drink in British Popular >Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, >forthcoming). >2 J. Burnett, Plenty and Want: A Social History of Diet in >England from 1815 to the Present Day (Harmondsworth: Penguin >edn., 1968). >3 S. Strasser, C. McGovern & M. Judt, Getting and Spending: >European and American Consumer Societies in the Twentieth >Century (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998); M. Daunton & M. >Hilton (eds), Material Politics: States, Consumers and >Political Cultures (Oxford: Berg, 2000). >4 J. Goodman, P. E. Lovejoy & A. Sherrat (eds.), Consuming >Habits: Drugs in Historyand Anthropology (London: Routledge, >1995). >5 Mass-Observation, The Pub and the People: A Worktown Study >(London: Cresset, 1987). >6 J. Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public >Sphere: an Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society >(trans. by Thomas Burger, Oxford: Polity Press, 1992). >7 D. Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London: >Routledge, 1979). >8 See, for example, C. Breward, The Hidden Consumer: >Masculinities, Fashion and City Life 1860-1914 (Manchester: >Manchester University Press, 1999); V. De Grazia with E. >Furlough (eds), The Sex of Things: Gender and Consumption in >Historical Perspective (Los Angeles: University of >California Press, 1996); >M. Hilton, Smoking in British Popular Culture, 1800-2000 >(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000). >9 L. A. Loeb, Consuming Angels: Advertising and Victorian >Women (Oxford: Oxford University Press, >1994); T. Richards, The Commodity Culture of Victorian >England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851-1914 (London: >Verso, 1991). > > > > > > >+--------------------------------------------------+ >|Anne Shepherd - Deputy Editor | >| | >|"Reviews in History" | >|Institute of Historical Research | >|School of Advanced Study | >|Malet Street | >|London WC1E 7HU | >|0171-862-8787 | >| | >|email: [log in to unmask] | >| | >| NEW SIMPLER URL ADDRESS !! | >| | >| SEE "Reviews in History" on: | >| http://www.ihrinfo.ac.uk/reviews | >| | >+--------------------------------------------------+ > > > > >