SOC 808 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Whole Foods Market, Vegetable Oil, Sugar
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOC 808
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Soc 808
Chapter 1: What Is Food Studies
INTRODUCTION
What is food sociology?
We often think of our food choices as something we decide on individually and consciously
(i.e) When asked why they eat particular foods, people often say that they choose based on aesthetics (e.g., how a
food tastes, smells, or looks) or practicalities (e.g., how much it costs or how easy it is to make)
Food habits are also shaped by other things, often beyond our direct and conscious control
This becomes clearer if considering how people eat in different geographic areas, in different social groups,
and in different time periods
(i.e. Why do you think the following things are true? Canadians eat more meat now than in the past. Men eat more
meat than women. Canadians eat two times more meat than Japanese people)
If food choices were only individually based, we wouldn't see these kinds of larger patterns
Sociologists emphasize that eating does not simply fill a biological need: it carries diverse social and cultural
meanings.
Our food habits and our food system are influenced by a complex set of social relations, processes, structures,
and institutions
Food scholars also emphasize that the food system is structured by relations of power, which lead to
inequalities—both within and across nations—and contribute to environmental degradation
Food involves many aspects of human life and social relations:
oa source of nutrition
oa symbol; a commodity
oa basis for ritual acts; an object of pleasure, anxiety, or fear
oan indicator of quality of life and health; a marker of class and ethnic identity
o a political tool
Some aspects of food were studied academically in the past (e.g., agronomy, economics, food science, home
economics), but were often studied separately, with little interaction between people in different fields
Different aspects of the food system are interconnected, and our food habits are so complex, that it makes
sense to study these things in relation to each other
Food Studies is a field that draws on many different disciplines (it is multidisciplinary)
Some Food Studies also combine the insights and theories of more than one discipline into particular research
projects (i.e., to do interdisciplinary work)
oFood studies: study of food and its representations through the lenses of diverse disciplinary traditions
oFood System: historically specific web of social relations, processes, structures, and institutional
arrangements that cover human interactions with nature and with other humans involving production,
distribution, preparation, and consumption of food
The Challenges of Defining a New Field
Food production has received considerable attention in established disciplines (such as economics, chemistry,
agronomy, engineering, marketing, and labour relations)
Analysis of food consumption has largely been limited to the study of negative pathologies of malnutrition,
hunger, and adulteration rather than its more intimate and positive features
Food consumption, and the relations between consumption and production, were largely ignored by scholars
When they weren't ignored, they were relegated to "women's fields" like home economic
Feminist perspective into food studies has expanded the breadth of work on food and women from a limited
focus on women’s food pathologies (such as anorexia and bulimia) to include the richness and complexity of
women’s relationship to food practices
Why did scholars ignore food in the past?
oThe public/private, production/consumption divide
1960s, when feminists began to challenge the status quo, academia was largely centered on the public realm
and on issues, which were considered to be economically or scientifically important
Academic researcher considered issues such as the molecular structure of sugar or how to improve crop yields
Consumption issues, such as what people ate and why they did so, were considered to be "private" issues of the
home ("feminine concerns"), and therefore unimportant
oMind-body dualism
In earlier philosophies there was an idea that academic institutions existed to feed the mind
Mind is seen as separate from, and superior to, body
Bodily concerns, like eating or sex, are seen as "debasing" or "primitive" – not proper subjects of academic
inquiry
Mind concerns, such as academic theory, and "body" concerns, such as eating, are supposed to be kept
separate
This idea persists to some degree today
(i,e. eating is typically banned during university classes)
Why is it so Popular Now?
Feminist activists and scholars began to challenge the public/private, consumption/production divide
Activities in the home were not only important to people's well-being but they also had larger economic
value
(i.e. they argued that if women didn't do unpaid work in the home, such as grocery shopping and cooking,
(male) workers wouldn't be able to be productive in the workforce (i.e., they would spend too much time cooking
for themselves or go hungry)
Effects of new technologies in the 60’s (e.g., pesticides) on our health and the environment
Consumer activists began to criticize the increasing influence of corporations on our lives
Concerned citizens began to scrutinize products and modes of production based on health and ethical
concerns
Document Summary
Food habits are also shaped by other things, often beyond our direct and conscious control. Canadians eat more meat now than in the past. Canadians eat two times more meat than japanese people) Our food habits and our food system are influenced by a complex set of social relations, processes, structures, and institutions. Food scholars also emphasize that the food system is structured by relations of power, which lead to inequalities both within and across nations and contribute to environmental degradation. Some aspects of food were studied academically in the past (e. g. , agronomy, economics, food science, home economics), but were often studied separately, with little interaction between people in different fields. Different aspects of the food system are interconnected, and our food habits are so complex, that it makes sense to study these things in relation to each other. Food studies is a field that draws on many different disciplines (it is multidisciplinary)
