New Year, New You: A Qualitative Study of Dry January, Self-Formation and Positive Regulation

In the last five years, giving up alcohol for January has become a common social practice in the UK. Inspired by Alcohol Concern’s Dry January initiative and other related campaigns, an estimated five million UK adults attempted to abstain from alcohol in January 2017 (Alcohol Concern, 2017). Moreover, evaluative research has suggested that a one-month spell of abstinence is an effective way of reducing average, longer-term drinking (De Visser, Robinson & Bond, 2016). However, the popularity and apparent effectiveness of Dry January are not well-understood. This article presents the first qualitative analysis of the meaning and significance of this important new cultural phenomenon. Based on analysis of media and social media content, it examines both how Dry January is managed by Alcohol Concern and how it is experienced by participants. The burgeoning popularity of Dry January is found to result from how this process of temporary abstinence is underpinned by positive regulatory techniques and the salience of embodiment. Consequently, rather than being a simple regime of bodily abstinence and self-control, Dry January should instead be understood as an embodied experience of ethical self-formation. The article also reflects on the implications of this finding for alcohol regulation more widely.