Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party So Hard

by Thomas Vander Ven

A unique answer to the perennial question--why do college students drink so much?

Most American college campuses are home to a vibrant drinking scene where students frequently get wasted, train-wrecked, obliterated, hammered, destroyed, and decimated. The terms that university students most commonly use to describe severe alcohol intoxication share a common theme: destruction, and even after repeated embarrassing, physically unpleasant, and even violent drinking episodes, students continue to go out drinking together. In Getting Wasted, Thomas Vander Ven provides a unique answer to the perennial question of why college students drink.

Vander Ven argues that college students rely on “drunk support:” contrary to most accounts of alcohol abuse as being a solitary problem of one person drinking to excess, the college drinking scene is very much a social one where students support one another through nights of drinking games, rituals and rites of passage. Drawing on over 400 student accounts, 25 intensive interviews, and one hundred hours of field research, Vander Ven sheds light on the extremely social nature of college drinking. Giving voice to college drinkers as they speak in graphic and revealing terms about the complexity of the drinking scene, Vander Ven argues that college students continue to drink heavily, even after experiencing repeated bad experiences, because of the social support that they give to one another and due to the creative ways in which they reframe and recast violent, embarrassing, and regretful drunken behaviors. Provocatively, Getting Wasted shows that college itself, closed and seemingly secure, encourages these drinking patterns and is one more example of the dark side of campus life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

229 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Thomas Vander Ven is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ohio University.

Reviews

[Julia Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

TW: assault

The author frequently tries to use the sociological lens to come off as “hip” to an oblivious older audience who view college students as stupid and ridiculous (as if they had never been that age themselves). Often the author’s usage of slang terms made me (a college student and sociology major) cringe since any of my friends would never use the terms he was trying to explain in any of those ways. Similarly, the author mentions how most college students are able to be care free from adult life, yet doesn’t acknowledge the large number of individuals who have to work and have jobs in order to attend college. What truly bothered me and made me give this book one star was the depiction of sexual assault from alcohol use. The author seemingly victim blames (whether accidental or not) and does not focus enough on those who commit these acts on others. I know we can’t expect researches and authors to mention everything but this was a bit unacceptable. Truly disappointing.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very intriguing ideas in this book.
Most interestiing parts:
Howard Becker, a Chicago sociologist/dance musician: "Marihuana-produced sensations are not automatically or necessarily pleasurable. The taste for such experience is a socially acquired one, not different in kind from acquired tastes for oysters or dry martinis. The user feels dizzy, thirsty; his scalp tingles; he misjudges time and distances. Are these things pleasureable? He isn't sure. If he is to continue marihuana use, he must decide that they are. Otherwise, getting high, while a real enough experience, will be an unpleasant one he would rather avoid."

The theories about laughter were super interesting: the relief theory- "people laugh upon realizing that a threat is no longer a threat or upon being freed of some psychological burden", the superiority/hostility theory- "people laugh when comparing themselves to others and finding themselves stronger, more successful, or at some advantage", and the incongruity theory- "laughing results from experiencing the unexpected, from a percieved inconsistancy between what one believes will happen or should happen and what actually occurs."

The idea that "drunk support"-- college students caring for sick codrinkers or counseling drunken friends-- is one of the pleasurable parts of drinking.

The culture of college drinking.

The difference between embarressment and shame (embarrassment being an "almost immediate, overwhelming, psychological and physiological response to a sense of failing to meet the expectations of a social situation.", Shame being "much worse than feeling immediately embarrassed over a social faux pas; shame can feel like a dramatic sense of social distance, alienation, and isolation")

[Marc Stremciuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

The drinking scene gets dialed up to 11 in college and it has always been an interest of mine as to why this is the case- it has become so ingrained into college culture that drinking is traditional and to abstain is out of the norm! Why drink when you're in college? The answer is, "We're in college!"

My answer is that it becomes a vehicle for self-exploration. Reading between the lines on the hilarious stories that Mr. Vander Van compiled through his field work, I got the sense that alcohol consumption accommodates the self that you are not allowed to be. My friend Cara and I made this joke the last time I was drunk (New Years) that you cannot be friends with an angry drunk, as it indicates they have hate in their heart. After reading this and more contemplation, I do not believe it works like a Persona 4 TV-world collage of all the worst parts of yourself -though it can, or the complete opposite of yourself allowed to experiment -though it can, or advantaging your personality to create an uber-you -though it can. If it's an expressionary action at its core, it explains all these behaviors and more.

Drinking felt very fun and exciting at the time... It was a very fun night. We danced and sang with no inhibitons and became louder and more social. Dancing is an expressive act. Socializing is the art of expression. Is drinking to be excluded?
I found myself going up to everyone and turning everyone into my new friends. Making friends is difficult. Alcohol is the social lubricant that allows a side of yourself to be expressed.
I really had no intentions of getting that drunk, but sometimes I like to make my boyfriend take care of me. The desire to be taken care of cannot be expressed without seeming needy unless alcohol is the means of expression. Alcohol allows a forum for revealing her boyfriend's love.
Dancing, socializing, fighting, caretaking, all expressed through the medium of drinking. And the most telling- hooking up:

Yeah, like if a girl never usually hooks up with a bunch of guys and then she does sleep with a guy, then the next morning she could be like, "Oh, I never usually do that" and then she'll keep saying that she never usually does that or stuff like that and it's like, "You are up to twenty guys now" and they try to say that they never do that like they are sweet and innocent or something, but they are not and they try to make the excuse like they are drunk or something.

Promiscuity is socially maladaptive behavior. However, the human heart has its desires and will devise a way to express them. Alcohol becomes both excuse and enabler. Social status structures can mingle and fall apart under the influence- allowing for expression that otherwise would not be tolerated. I have heard "Oh my God, I can't believe I did that. I must have been so drunk." used as an excuse for somebody to obviously save face. Please, just say you want to have sex with the art girl.

All our socially maladaptive behavior that the drinker wants to explore is expressed in what the author calls 'The Shitshow' of college drinking. Why does the college drinker get to transcend social classes, from chatting to sex? Why does the college drinker get to act ridiculously loud and do stupid things in public places? Because the college drinker wants to, and alcohol is the vehicle of expression by which they can do this- all at close to no consequence. Of course, when someone dies, when the sexual assault likelihood skyrockets, I do not see this as an unfortunate side effect- I see it as the expression of a sinful heart. Of course, the author does not take this view; he has to refrain from speculation and conjectural conclusions, but by God, it's my review and I can say what I want. My conclusion allows for the heartbreaking news to fall in line with the fun- not make it a tragic outlying case. Why do college athletes assault more people under the influence? Why people end up dead? I have a consistent answer: because the college drinker wanted to, and alcohol is the vehicle by which they could express themselves. The college athlete may think he's the shit, and the power dynamic he desires is expressed in rape. The frat boy may think he's powerful, and his self-image is expressed in a drunk fight that leaves someone dead.

Overall, the book was great. College drinking is really fun, and it is no wonder it took off. My worldview aims to be consistent- and my conclusion is that. An honest look at ourselves reveals that the drunk us is what we want to do. The stories from the people interviewed are incredibly funny, and I felt like I left this book with more than I came in, which is all you can ask at the end of the day.

[Adam Colby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information for parents and school administrators. The book provides good in-sight into the minds of college drinkers. We cannot tackle an issue unless we have taken time to understand their perspective. This book tells it from their view.

[zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Vander Ven puts a particularly creative, personal spin on the history of drugs and alcohol. Much like David Courtwright’s Dark Paradise and Thomas Pegram’s Battling Demon Rum, Getting Wasted analyzes the means by which American society has attempted to limit substance abuse, focusing strictly on college students at three nameless universities in the twenty-first century. Vander Ven lambasts substance abuse-prevention programs like MADD and “A Matter of Degree” as failing to understand their target audiences, opting for a sociological method of understanding the cultures and norms that lead college students to drink heavily. Getting Wasted is based on a single question that the aforementioned programs, according to Vander Ven, fail to address: if drinking is violent, destructive, and deadly, then why do college students continue to partake in it on a regular basis?

For the most part, the first half of the book is dedicated to answering the latter part of that question. He begins with a brief but detailed history of college drinking in America, beginning with the academic culture of the early Ivy League - in which classes were perceived as interrupting the fun of college for the wealthy “leisure class” - to the propagation of Greek Life in the sixties, which was perceived as easier to control by administrators seeking to curb the Vietnam War protest culture, compounded by the soaring popularity of Animal House in the seventies. This transitions into the history of college drinking research, which reflects increasing professional confusion surrounding the questions of who drinks, how they drink, and, most importantly, why they do.

This transitions into Vander Ven’s chapter on “the Intoxication Process,” which crafts a grocery list of the reasons college students drink. While the chapter introduces readers to Vander Ven’s incredibly complex, primary source-oriented methodology, the series of accounts describing drinking on gameday, on birthdays, at the beginning and end of the semester, and because college is synonymous with alcohol ultimately concludes that college students need no particular motivation to drink. The next chapter - “Being Wasted” - is a more effective discussion of that all-important “why”: in it, Vander Ven deconstructs the elements of “Drunkworld,” as he calls it, a place full of adventure, happiness, free love, and complete insanity. His methodology, which utilizes research assistants, “informants,” and surveys, truly shows its mettle here, and readers immediately see the less-than-complex social structures that lead students to partake, become happy, and then partake again. Personal accounts flesh out key terms - “shit show,” “liquid courage,” etc. - that Vander Ven pulls from legitimate conversation in order to analyze the sociological implications of drunken situations.

This ability to define subtle, colloquial terms is especially apparent during his discussion of the dangers and regrets of drinking and the systems used to manage them. No element of “drunkworld” is left untouched. In “When Everything Falls Apart,” Vander Ven describes the physical wages of a drunken evening - fistfighting, alcohol poisoning - as well as the emotional- arguments, getting caught - while balancing them against the intricate methods of drunk support used to combat them. Student accounts detail the virtues of having someone’s back during a fight, of “cock blocking” potential rapes, of holding someone’s hair as they vomit. This network of shame and support continues to grow as Vander Ven discusses the morning after a drinking episode. He again mirrors physical and emotional: describing hangovers and the variety of cures students have devised for them astride the shame associated with missing a class, “acting a fool,” or texting ex-lovers while drunk and the forgiveness/support other (presumably hungover) students give one another in such situations.

This dichotomy of suffering and support returns readers to Vander Ven’s initial question. College students brave the risks of drinking because it was fun, and even though they do occasionally experience various forms of suffering, they return to the bottle because complex networks of support from their peers are often more rewarding than the fun of “drunkworld” itself. Vander Ven notes that if alcohol abuse-prevention programs wish to remain relevant, they must employ a “bottum-up” (pun presumably unintended) approach, understanding college students and offering them support - much like their friends - when they suffer. As a sociological approach, this makes sense. While the question of how accurate the accounts Vander Ven relies on remains unanswered - doing so would have resulted in a 500-page book rather than a 200-page one - Getting Wasted is both a complex oral history and an empathetic look at the relationship between college students and alcohol.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who attended a dry campus during my undergrad years, and now lives within close vicinity of one of the largest public universities in the US, I have long been curious-but-not-in-a-participatory-way about the appeal of excessive alcohol consumption amongst collegiates. Although I still don’t personally understand the appeal, this book provides insight into some of the social pressures and norms which encourage the alcoholism which we can see on campuses. Plenty of primary and secondary research for those who wish to further pursue the subject.

[Manda Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you look at the list of books I read this year, you will see that this one isn't quite like the others. This was our summer reading for the Student Affairs Department. Since I have worked with high school and college students for almost a decade, there were no big surprises or answers in this book. What I did find was a very comprehensive look at alcohol and college students and it was done in a way that offered no judgment or encouragement to a certain way life. It told it how it is in a very accurate way. This book has value to anyone who works with college students.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the approach and focus of this book. While the information wasn't revelatory by any means for someone in my line of work, the angle was different from some other things I've read because it is looking at the group think involved in the college drinking scene and therefore ways to harness this power to help with harm reduction. The conclusion is solid although lacking in specifics. I'd probably actually rate this a 3.5 if you were allowed.

[Christopher Quolke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it to any Bobcat or anybody who works with college students. I liked the sociological examination of the drinking culture present in higher education, and I can personally think of personally relevant examples of concepts presented in the book.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy sociology books, and this one was an especially good read. I would recommend it to anyone curious about the drinking culture of college-whether they be drinkers themselves, graduated from college, or nondrinkers-this book is insightful.

[Amy (Gabs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a class. Interesting read. Well written. Subject matter was nicely laid out and the book had a good flow. It doesn't really shine new light on why college kids drink, however it does bring all of the reasons together in an easy to understand way. Would recommend

[Maryann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used this book in my freshman comp class. Looking for a book about a common social problem, but not one that repeats the same material the students have already learned. Enjoyed the different perspective that this book offered.

[Heather Downs · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent symbolic interactionist study of college drinking. The author examines the process of college drinking and how it leads participants to feel good or justified in their behavior.

[Juliana Philippa]

NPR Talk of the Nation story: http://www.npr.org/2011/08/17/1397136...

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent summary of qualitative research on college student drinking. Is making me question some of our practices.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at college drinking from the student's point of view.