[Pen-l] query: a change in British culture?

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

In this month's HARPER'S magazine, there's an essay by Theodore
Dalrymple that argues that British culture has changed radically over
the decades from centering on modesty, irony, and the like to
involving loud binge drinking, drug abuse, and mayhem. So he suggests
the existence of other causes, his emphasis is on blaming the changes
on laws regulating drinking.

I have two questions:

1) has there really been this kind of change?

2) if it has happened, isn't it possible that Thatcher's social
revolution, emphasizing the unleashing of individualism, encouraged
this cultural change? Also, Thatcherian individualism tells people
that if they fail, it's their fault. Doesn't that -- and the
generally hopeless socioeconomic situation faced by the majority --
encourage binge drinking and the like?

BTW, it this explanation works, it's something that Dalrymple would
avoid saying, since he's associated with the "libertarian" Manhattan
Institute.
-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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