Modelo para la estructura de tasa real y expectativa de inflación 41 

Determined drunkenness was constitutive of the proper night out and was part of the shared understandings of the practice. Not drinking on a proper night out was constituted by the young people as ‘boring’ and lacking in ‘fun’, in other words in binary opposition to the second meaning of the practice ‘sociability’. A proper night

out was constituted as a time to relax and as a reward for a hard working week. Mark

(AG) described the practice and its associations with drunkeness as being synomous with tension relief and relaxtion.

The proper night out is constructed as a ‘planned letting go’ which is a release from the constrained structure of the formalised working week (Szmigin et al. 2008). Through sharing the drunken experience and adhering to the practice norms of acceptable drunkenness, the practice becomes associated with fun, ‘reinforcing emotional bonds through friendship’, being sociable and a reward for a hard working week. The existing literature has identified a link between young people’s alcohol practices and ‘doing’ friendship relationships (Niland et al. 2013, MacLean 2015, Percy et al. 2011, Waitt and De Jong 2014, Brown and Gregg 2012). The participants’ desire

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to reinforce emotional bonds with friends, and to manage their personal relationships are constitutive of the practice of a proper night out as is evident from the quotes below from Natalie and Kate (CG1):

Natalie: We have like this little group of friends and we do like a house party every Friday.

Kate: I just go out [on a proper night out] with some friends

During the group interviews the young people were asked what they thought was the most important part of the practice and what they looked forward to the most? There was a general consensus from all participants that the social aspect of the night and being with friends was an important and favoured part of the practice. Illustrated by the discussion below from CG1:

Researcher: So when you are out for a proper night out, what do you think is

the most important part of the evening?

Kate: Company – like who you are going with.

Liam: The social aspect really of things. That’s the whole point a social

gathering [on the proper night out] really. The drink is like only one aspect of it. It’s a gathering of friends really.

Researcher: And what would you say. Amy?

Amy: It probably is just like the friends thing and you know just having

a good time. Stuff like that.

The importance of cementing and sustaining friendships through participating in the

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below Harry, Claire, Andy and Emma agree that relaxing with friends, having time to talk and catching up is an important part of this practice.

Researcher: What do you look forward to on the proper night out?

Harry: Just a night out with friends.

Claire: I think it’s just letting your hair down and spending time with friends.

Researcher: What’s your favourite part then?

Harry: I dunno know. A night out with friends – being with friends I guess.

Cos when I say I see them all the time. I see them either in college or when I go to the shops where they work. So a pub night out or a night out in xx [proper night out] you get to talk to them.

This implicit understanding that we see in the discussion above about reinforcing friendships is deeply embedded within the practice. The material components of the practices are integral to supporting the group bonding with the provision of spaces for talking and the affordances of mobile phones for re-telling stories. The meaning is associated with the sub-practices of ‘pre-drinking’, ‘getting ready’ and ‘storytelling’, which provide both the spatial and temporal opportunities for these emotional bonds to be further cemented, and for the group to bond together further in friendship. This group bonding is also expressed through sharing a ‘look’ by enabling group members to identify with each other through a shared image. This is best demonstrated by this quote from Charlotte (CG1) whose friendship group dress in a similar style for a proper

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Charlotte: I suppose though that we are all individual. But I would say that

you could look at us and say that they are a group of friends.

The meaning of ‘sociability’ had associations with fun, relaxation and friendship and provided respondents with a release from work pressures and other responsibilities. Sociability was not simply about cementing friendships through togetherness and sharing, but also about adhering to the localised practice norms and understanding the ‘rules’ of the practice. There is a kind of acceptance within the groups that to achieve social recognition and status you need to have ‘fun’ or at least be seen as having ‘fun’, and this stems from how their practice performance is viewed, at least for these groups of young people anyway.

6.4 Caring

There is an understanding from many of the young people that they will care for their friends when participating in a proper night out and their friends, if required, will care for them. The provision of care was complicated, gendered and could damage or strengthen friendships. This practice meaning was associated with friendship and interconnected to practices of interest that were part of the routinised know-how of the practice.

The group’s friendship practices are integral to the way they make sense of their drinking which is regarded as a core activity for their friendship. The young people in the study explained that participation in the proper night out was dependent on the participation of close friends. Drinking alone was viewed negatively and drinking, particularly as constitutive of the proper night out, was viewed as a social rather than individual experience. Doing and constructing friendship was associated with the

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practice through a narrative of operating care provision which took the form of looking out ‘for’ and ‘after’ drunken friends. This type of risk regulation, by friends, was prevalent across the groups (Crawshaw 2002). Care provision included; supporting each other when vomiting, helping each other to get home and supporting each other through any other drink related accidents linked to the practice as well as physical protection. Claire, Becky and Emma (CG2) took comfort from being in a group with male members who were positioned in the masculine role of ‘protector’.

Researcher: Do you prefer that, going out, in mixed groups?

Claire: I think you feel more safe when you go out with lads cos if there’s

trouble then you just push them towards them. You’ll be like you go and sort it.

Researcher: And how does that work for the lads?

Claire: Well there hasn’t been any trouble when I’ve been out so.. but there’s always that comforting - you’ve got someone to back you up.

Emma: I was in Amsterdam in the summer and there was only three girls

and there were five boys who went and a few of the lads were, like, big big boys and when you are in a country like Amsterdam, cos it was really rough, we knew we were going there to like have really nice time and see amazing sights and stuff, but we were also going to like drink [proper night out] and when you go into somewhere really rough and you want to feel protected. And I felt