SOC349H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Food Technology, Technological Utopianism, Corporate Crime
Document Summary
Food is our biggest industry & perhaps the greatest cause of disease & death. Food choices are the result of a complex negotiation among 3 competing considerations: the consumer"s identity (social & personal, matters of convenience (price, skill, availability, a sense of responsibility (an awareness of the consequences of what we eat) For identity, we examine the psychological, cultural & demographic determinants of what & how we eat. Then look at convenience, which is provided, for profit, by the global food industry, the world"s largest industry. Next, in the hopes of being responsible consumers, we examine some of the medical, political & environments costs of our modern feast. Lastly, examine 2 very diff scenarios for feeding the future (1) the technological fix - which pins its hope on continued scientific breakthroughs & (2) the anthropological fix - which hopes to change human expectations & behaviors. Agriculture remade the world, both physically & culturally, transforming landscapes & geography.
