摘要：Aim The article explores typical drinking situations, practices involved in these situations and the situational control of drinking. Data and Method The data consist of 60 diaries (39 women, 21 men) written by young adults aged 23–35. The writers provide descriptions of all their visits to pubs and restaurants and drinking occasions over a period of at least two months. The writers are all IT and service professionals, representing a generation whose descriptions provide an insight into what kinds of drinking situations are receding in Finland; what kinds of situations continue to have cultural relevance; and what kinds of new drinking situations are emerging. Drinking situations are identifed and distinguished from one another by reference to three factors: the motives of drinking, the processes of drinking and the drinkers' subjective commitment to those processes. In addition, drinking situation are analysed from the points of view of gender and (self-)control. Results Five main types of drinking situations are extracted from the analysis of the diary accounts: hanging out, meal drinking, partying, carnival and individual activity. Hanging out and meal drinking are described in the diary accounts as drinking situations where gender differences carry little signifcance. These drinking situations encourage the use of alcohol, but not drinking to inebriation. By contrast, the three other types are intoxication-oriented and in them gender differences emerge. Partying, for its part, encourages controlled inebriation. Carnival is a drinking situation that encourages heavy drinking, even beyond consciousness. Also individual activity may encourage heavy drinking. However, in this situation people rarely drink to the same extent as in carnival or party situation since they do not have the security net provided by company. Conclusions The heavier drinking the situation encourages, the more gendered the experience appears. women who felt that they had lost control over their bodily activities expressed more shame than men, especially in descriptions of several days' carnival drinking.
