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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Apr 1, 2008
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AJPH.2007.117226v1
98/5/814    most recent
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May 2008, Vol 98, No. 5 | American Journal of Public Health 814-822
© 2008 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.117226

PUBLIC HEALTH THEN AND NOW

On Wit, Irony, and Living With Imperfection: How Britain Said No to Abstinence

Jessica Warner, PhD, Janine Riviere, MA and Jenny Carson, PhD

Jessica Warner is with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario. Janine Riviere is with the Department of History, University of Toronto, Toronto. Jenny Carson is with the Department of History, Ryerson University, Toronto.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Jessica Warner, PhD, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell St, T519, Toronto, ON M5S 2S1, Canada (e-mail: jessica_warner{at}camh.net).

Christian perfection, the evangelical doctrine that gave rise to abstinence as it is understood and practiced in America, originated in Britain with John Wesley and the Methodists. We examine why that doctrine floundered in its country of origin, opening the door to a more pluralistic and evidence-based approach to problems such as alcohol and drug abuse. Although social and political factors were important (the stratification of British society stood in the way of holding everyone to the same moral standard, and the drink trade was far better organized than its American counterpart), Britain’s intellectual elite also played a vital role, heaping ridicule on the temperance movement and subjecting it to a devastating critique.






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