Now we all agree that deviance is neither an inborn characteristic nor a sin. It is socially learnt. In alcohol research, the view that alcoholism is a learnt practice has rarely been addressed. Even rarer is the emphasis on how ‘deviants’ react to the label imposed upon them. One important suggestion comes from the well-known article by Sykes and Matza (1957) who described 'techniques of neutralizations', or ways of explaining ‘deviant behaviours’ in socially acceptable manner. Certainly, people learn these techniques in the socialisation process. The authors said: 'Unfortunately, the specific content of what is learnt - as opposed to the process by which it is learnt - has received relatively little attention in either theory and research'. Importantly, these techniques much be described by the people who are researched rather the researcher.
