Reflective Journal of ‘A Top Night’
Jeremy O’Connor
Declaration
Plagiarism is the appropriation of the ideas, writing, or other work of someone else and passing
them off as one’s own. This assignment is my own work, and I have not plagiarized this
assignment in whole or in part. I do give permission for my assignment to be used in as an example
for other students. This report may be used with/without my name on the copy that is retained. By
using my student login to access Blackboard iLearn and submitting this essay electronically I am
bound by the assessment and appeals policy and procedure for this unit.
Submitted as Critical Thinking Task A for PHI10005
Due Date: 25 July 2021
Lecturer: Celeste Tipple
102943835@student.swin.edu.au
Word Count: 615
Reflective Journal
Tomsen’s (1997, p.91) study investigates the links between male identity, alcohol consumption
and its suggested correlation to violence and disorder with a more direct focus on the dynamics
between masculine social identity and heavy group drinking. In refuting the often-held view that
popular leisure expresses elements of social control of false consciousness. Tomsen asserts that
this behavior of the Proletariat is more of a cultural resistance to the Bourgeoise’s attempts at
controlling and regulating them.
This firsthand study took place throughout 1989 through to early 1990 at a sample of 5 key
venues in Sydney that were known by officials to be violent. The observations were executed in
mostly a covert manner over extended periods of 5 hours or more and involved asking ordinary
questions such as the patron's thoughts on the venue, why they were there and what their
impression of the staff was. A small undisclosed number of structured interviews were also
conducted with a small sample of frequent drinkers who had varying experiences with drinking
related violence. This ethnographic study was conducted over 36 visits totaling over 300 hours
with the aim to extend upon the previously established knowledge of drinking and drinking
related violence (Tomsen, 1997 pp. 92 - 93).
The research methods appeared to be flawed in many areas of his research. Tomsen committed
the ‘Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy’ when putting together the parameters of this study. This fallacy
occurs when you design your argument around something you are already biased about. By
selecting venues that were known by officials to be regularly violent he willfully unincluded a
control group (Tomsen, 1997 p.92). Also, the method of data collection wasn’t outlined and the
study was conducted with only one observer. Typically, there should multiple observers who
would engage in a post observation debrief to compare notes and experiences. No correlation
between alcohol and violence can be concluded from this study because it is unknown how much
alcohol any given participant had consumed.
Though if we take the assertion that this behavior is a form of cultural resistance to the ruling
class (Tomsen, 1997 p.91) and view it through the perspective of evolutionary psychology, we
find that humans have always engaged in violence as a response to their sensitivity of status
(Ferguson, 2000, ‘The causes and origins of “primitive war”’ Anthropological Quarterly vol. 73,
no. 3, Youth and the Social Imagination in Africa, p.159).
In the 21st century, all that some people of lower socioeconomic status may feel they have is their
honor and perceived masculinity. That’s why they protect and project it when given the
opportunity to. Often, they are subjected to repetitive, menial, and labor-intensive tasks day in
and day out. They constantly have someone else (the Bourgeois) dictate what they do. So, to
many, the short window of reprieve they have in their life is engaging in collective drinking and
social disorder.
Thankfully in 2021, we have evolved from mindless Neanderthal's dancing around a fire
asserting dominance through grunts and swinging clubs. We now dance in clubs with spacious
floors where flashing strobe lights bounce off the walls and patrons in the smoker's section shout
in each other's ears asking for cigarettes or where to find drugs.
The cultural perception of masculinity and violence has changed drastically since Tomsen
conducted this study. These days you are more likely to be shamed by the majority for acting like
a violent degenerate and ruining everyone else's enjoyable time than you are to be applauded.
Though we do still have people who engage in these primitive social displays of power, now
‘being a man’ looks much different thanks to progressive movements such as feminism aiding in
dismantling these ideas of toxic masculinity.
References:
Tomsen, S 1997, ‘A top night: Social protest, masculinity and the culture of drinking violence.’
The British Journal of Criminology, 37(1), pp.90-102.
https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/37/1/90/359849
Ferguson, R 2000, ‘The causes and origins of “primitive war”’ Anthropological Quarterly vol.
73, no. 3, Youth and the Social Imagination in Africa, Part 1 p.159
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3317940