Full Description
A classic text about the social study of food, this is the first English language edition of Jean-Pierre Poulain's seminal work. Tracing the history of food scholarship, The Sociology of Food provides an overview of sociological theory and its relevance to the field of food.
Divided into two parts, Poulain begins by exploring the continuities and changes in the modern diet. From the effect of globalization on food production and supply, to evolving cultural responses to food - including cooking and eating practices, the management of consumer anxieties, and concerns over obesity and the medicalization of food - the first part examines how changing food practices have shaped and are shaped by wider social trends. The second part provides an overview of the emergence of food as an academic focus for sociologists and anthropologists. Revealing the obstacles that lay in the way of this new field of study, Poulain shows how the discipline was first established and explains its development over the last forty years.
Destined to become a key text for students and scholars, The Sociology of Food makes a major contribution to food studies and sociology. This edition features a brand new chapter focusing on the development of food studies in the English-speaking world and a preface, specifically written for the edition.
Contents
List of figures and tables
Preface
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1: Permanent and Changing Aspects in Modern Eating Practices
Chapter 1: The Globalization of the Food Supply: De-localization and Re-localization
Chapter 2: Between the Domestic and the Economic Spheres: The Ebb and Flow of Culinary Activity
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Eating Practices
Chapter 4: From Food Risks and Food Safety to Anxiety Management
Chapter 5: Obesity and the Medicalization of Everyday Food Consumption
Part 2: From Sociological Interest in Food to Sociologies of Food
Chapter 1: The Major Socio-Anthropological Movements and Their Encounters with the "Food Social Fact"
Chapter 2: Epistemiological Obstacles
Chapter 3: From Sociological Interest in Food to Sociologies of Food
Chapter 4: The Sociologies of Food and Attempts to Make Connections
Chapter 5: The Sociology of French Gastronomy
Chapter 6: The Food Social Space: A Tool for the Study of Food Patterns
As a Conclusion: The Call for Constructivist Positivism
References
Index
