Abstract What does it mean to engage with" food politics&quo... more Abstract What does it mean to engage with" food politics"? This article seeks to investigate the implicit and explicit dimensions of food politics by exploring the various ways political goals are both articulated and submerged. Our focus is on foodie discourse, which we ...
This chapter provides an overview of the evolution and debate surrounding the legacy of Bourdieu’... more This chapter provides an overview of the evolution and debate surrounding the legacy of Bourdieu’s ideas about culture and class inequality. It charts the development of the sociological concepts of distinction and omnivorousness, making note of important points of consensus, while considering gaps and puzzles that continue to trouble the field. The chapter argues that cultural consumption remains a central framework for understanding the perpetuation and cultural rationalization of inequality. Over three decades of research in the sociology of culture highlights the contemporary infusion of elements of democratic inclusion into cultural omnivorousness, yet also how it operates ideologically to obfuscate the deep, disturbing divisions that still exist between rich and poor on a national and global scale. During a period in which wealth disparities are on the rise, the result is more likely an obfuscation of inequality, rather than meaningful social change to reduce it.
Abstract This article advances a sociological perspective on how people use prototypes to underst... more Abstract This article advances a sociological perspective on how people use prototypes to understand social categories. Prototypes are mental representations of best-fitting cases within categories that conserve cognitive effort by efficiently representing phenomena. While simple prototypes are well understood, what remains unclear is how more complex aspects of social life are understood in prototypical terms as well as how prototypes relate to boundary work and multiple axes of inequality. To stimulate a sociological perspective on prototypes, we investigate conceptualizations of prototypical meat-eaters and vegetarians. A longstanding cultural schema relating meat-eating to masculinity and plant-focused diets to femininity has been shown to powerfully guide everyday thinking about meat; yet, multiple axes of identity are also implicated in meat consumption or abstention, raising the possibility that people will hold more complex ideas about these categories. Based on 131 semi-structured interviews, our analysis reveals a range of understandings about the social locations of meat eaters and vegetarians. We find this evidenced in the presence of four intersectional prototypes: 1) the multicultural meat-eating muscle man; 2) the meaty fat man; 3) the skinny rich vegetarian; and 4) the religious vegetarian. In interrogating these four prototypical figures, we show how prototype analysis can help explain how people think in ways that both perpetuate and deviate from gender schemas, advance the study of perceptions of intersectional identities, and illuminate the link between culture and action. In this case, prototypes reinforce but also complicate normative gendered performance and also suggest limits for adopting plant-based diets.
Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We buil... more Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We build on this research to investigate how corporations succeed in this effort by uncovering the strategies and tools they employ as moral entrepreneurs. To do so, we examine the corporate discourse of three prominent fast-food firms to identify how they present hamburgers as good food, in a context where beef is increasingly criticized as morally suspect. Based on a discourse analysis of corporate communications and marketing campaigns, we identify three distinct discursive strategies for managing meat criticisms: (1) global managerialism (McDonald’s); (2) aestheticized simplicity (A&W); and (3) nostalgic, personalized appeals (Wendy’s). These strategies are realized through the use of informational tools to shape what customers think and know about beef, and affective tools to influence how customers feel about beef. Together, these corporate strategies speak to the skilful ability of corpo...
Under what conditions is ethical consumption a high-status practice? Using unique food consumptio... more Under what conditions is ethical consumption a high-status practice? Using unique food consumption survey data on aesthetic and ethical preferences, we investigate how these orientations to food are related. Existing research on high-status food consumption points to the “foodie,” who defines good taste through aesthetic standards. And emergent evidence suggests the “ethical consumer,” whose consumption is driven by moral principles, may also be a high-status food identity. However, ethical consumption can be practiced in inexpensive and subcultural ways that do not conform to dominant status hierarchies (e.g., freeganism). In order to understand the complex cultural terrain of high-status consumption, we investigate how socioeconomic status (SES) is related to foodie and ethical consumer preferences and practices. Using a k-means cluster analysis of intercept survey data from food shoppers in Toronto, we identify four distinct clusters representing foodies, ethical consumers, ethic...
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2017
We extend prior research on “ethical” food consumption by examining how motivations can vary acro... more We extend prior research on “ethical” food consumption by examining how motivations can vary across demographic groups and across kinds of ethical foods simultaneously. Based on a survey of food shoppers in Toronto, we find that parents with children under the age of 5 are most likely to report intention to purchase organic foods and to be primarily motivated by health and taste concerns. In contrast, intention to purchase local food is motivated by collectivist concerns – the environment and supporting the local economy – and is associated with educated, white consumers. In addition to highlighting this distinction in motivations for organic vs. local food consumption, we also argue that the predominant “individualist” vs. “collectivist” framing in the scholarly literature should be reformulated to accommodate an intermediate motivation. Organic food consumption is often motivated by a desire to consume for others (children) in ways that are neither straightforwardly individualist ...
Abstract What does it mean to engage with" food politics&quo... more Abstract What does it mean to engage with" food politics"? This article seeks to investigate the implicit and explicit dimensions of food politics by exploring the various ways political goals are both articulated and submerged. Our focus is on foodie discourse, which we ...
This chapter provides an overview of the evolution and debate surrounding the legacy of Bourdieu’... more This chapter provides an overview of the evolution and debate surrounding the legacy of Bourdieu’s ideas about culture and class inequality. It charts the development of the sociological concepts of distinction and omnivorousness, making note of important points of consensus, while considering gaps and puzzles that continue to trouble the field. The chapter argues that cultural consumption remains a central framework for understanding the perpetuation and cultural rationalization of inequality. Over three decades of research in the sociology of culture highlights the contemporary infusion of elements of democratic inclusion into cultural omnivorousness, yet also how it operates ideologically to obfuscate the deep, disturbing divisions that still exist between rich and poor on a national and global scale. During a period in which wealth disparities are on the rise, the result is more likely an obfuscation of inequality, rather than meaningful social change to reduce it.
Abstract This article advances a sociological perspective on how people use prototypes to underst... more Abstract This article advances a sociological perspective on how people use prototypes to understand social categories. Prototypes are mental representations of best-fitting cases within categories that conserve cognitive effort by efficiently representing phenomena. While simple prototypes are well understood, what remains unclear is how more complex aspects of social life are understood in prototypical terms as well as how prototypes relate to boundary work and multiple axes of inequality. To stimulate a sociological perspective on prototypes, we investigate conceptualizations of prototypical meat-eaters and vegetarians. A longstanding cultural schema relating meat-eating to masculinity and plant-focused diets to femininity has been shown to powerfully guide everyday thinking about meat; yet, multiple axes of identity are also implicated in meat consumption or abstention, raising the possibility that people will hold more complex ideas about these categories. Based on 131 semi-structured interviews, our analysis reveals a range of understandings about the social locations of meat eaters and vegetarians. We find this evidenced in the presence of four intersectional prototypes: 1) the multicultural meat-eating muscle man; 2) the meaty fat man; 3) the skinny rich vegetarian; and 4) the religious vegetarian. In interrogating these four prototypical figures, we show how prototype analysis can help explain how people think in ways that both perpetuate and deviate from gender schemas, advance the study of perceptions of intersectional identities, and illuminate the link between culture and action. In this case, prototypes reinforce but also complicate normative gendered performance and also suggest limits for adopting plant-based diets.
Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We buil... more Recent research has extended the concept of moral entrepreneurialism to corporate actors. We build on this research to investigate how corporations succeed in this effort by uncovering the strategies and tools they employ as moral entrepreneurs. To do so, we examine the corporate discourse of three prominent fast-food firms to identify how they present hamburgers as good food, in a context where beef is increasingly criticized as morally suspect. Based on a discourse analysis of corporate communications and marketing campaigns, we identify three distinct discursive strategies for managing meat criticisms: (1) global managerialism (McDonald’s); (2) aestheticized simplicity (A&W); and (3) nostalgic, personalized appeals (Wendy’s). These strategies are realized through the use of informational tools to shape what customers think and know about beef, and affective tools to influence how customers feel about beef. Together, these corporate strategies speak to the skilful ability of corpo...
Under what conditions is ethical consumption a high-status practice? Using unique food consumptio... more Under what conditions is ethical consumption a high-status practice? Using unique food consumption survey data on aesthetic and ethical preferences, we investigate how these orientations to food are related. Existing research on high-status food consumption points to the “foodie,” who defines good taste through aesthetic standards. And emergent evidence suggests the “ethical consumer,” whose consumption is driven by moral principles, may also be a high-status food identity. However, ethical consumption can be practiced in inexpensive and subcultural ways that do not conform to dominant status hierarchies (e.g., freeganism). In order to understand the complex cultural terrain of high-status consumption, we investigate how socioeconomic status (SES) is related to foodie and ethical consumer preferences and practices. Using a k-means cluster analysis of intercept survey data from food shoppers in Toronto, we identify four distinct clusters representing foodies, ethical consumers, ethic...
Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, 2017
We extend prior research on “ethical” food consumption by examining how motivations can vary acro... more We extend prior research on “ethical” food consumption by examining how motivations can vary across demographic groups and across kinds of ethical foods simultaneously. Based on a survey of food shoppers in Toronto, we find that parents with children under the age of 5 are most likely to report intention to purchase organic foods and to be primarily motivated by health and taste concerns. In contrast, intention to purchase local food is motivated by collectivist concerns – the environment and supporting the local economy – and is associated with educated, white consumers. In addition to highlighting this distinction in motivations for organic vs. local food consumption, we also argue that the predominant “individualist” vs. “collectivist” framing in the scholarly literature should be reformulated to accommodate an intermediate motivation. Organic food consumption is often motivated by a desire to consume for others (children) in ways that are neither straightforwardly individualist ...
This cultural analysis tells two stories about food. The first depicts good food as democratic. F... more This cultural analysis tells two stories about food. The first depicts good food as democratic. Foodies frequent ‘hole in the wall’ ethnic eateries, appreciate the pie found in working-class truck stops, and reject the snobbery of fancy French restaurants with formal table service. The second story describes how food operates as a source of status and distinction for economic and cultural elites, indirectly maintaining and reproducing social inequality. While the first storyline insists that anybody can be a foodie, the second asks foodies to look in the mirror and think about their relative social and economic privilege. By simultaneously considering both of these stories, and studying how they operate in tension, a delicious sociology of food becomes available, perfect for teaching a broad range of cultural sociology courses.
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Papers by Josee Johnston