How did the UK, the villain of Europe as the source of the greatest recent crisis in trust in foo... more How did the UK, the villain of Europe as the source of the greatest recent crisis in trust in food, become the country with the highest reported levels of trust in the safety of food? The nature of the BSE crisis is explored, particularly how it rapidly became primarily a question of trust in government and science. The responses to the crisis by the different institutional actors is examined, especially the provisioning system and retailers, but also consumers themselves. A major reform of governmental institutional architecture resulted in the Food Standards Agency, a model for European development. But, we argue that this reform conformed with growing retailer power and control over the supply chain to provide a new institutional basis for trust in food. r
Schatzki’s (2002) concept of “general understandings”, a category within his schema of practice c... more Schatzki’s (2002) concept of “general understandings”, a category within his schema of practice components, has received marginal critical attention. The concept promises to deal with diffuse cultural conceptions which transcend the boundaries between integrative practices. Schatzki’s use of the concept is explored, along with its relation to “teleoaffective structures”, “teleoaffective regimes”, “practical understandings” and “practical intelligibility” (Schatzki, 2002). We suggest the role general understandings may play in cultural analysis and identify general features through examples: they may emerge from discourse or praxis and have both tacit and discursive elements; and they circulate between integrative practices through typical processes and mechanisms.
Warde, A., Welch, D. and Paddock, J. (2017) “Studying consumption through the lens of practice” in M. Keller and B. Halkier (eds.) Routledge Handbook on Consumption London: Routledge
This paper applies social network analysis to three case study social movement organizations base... more This paper applies social network analysis to three case study social movement organizations based in the north of England: a local Labour Party branch, an environmental group, and a conservation group. Using a postal survey of members, we chart the extent of ties between members of these three groups, indicating how each group has its own internal social dynamics and characteristics that are related to the nature of the movement organizations themselves. We explore how the network structures interrelate with the ...
... CRIC The University of Manchester & UMIST Alan Warde, Mark Tomlin... more ... CRIC The University of Manchester & UMIST Alan Warde, Mark Tomlinson & Andrew McMeekin CRIC Discussion Paper No 37 July 2000 ... He is currently researching in the area of the sociology of consumption. Dr Mark Tomlinson is a Research Fellow at CRIC. ...
This Note uses the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) to consider the changing volume and distr... more This Note uses the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) to consider the changing volume and distribution of voluntary association membership (and hence social capital) in Great Britain. We aim to supplement Hall's study of trends in social capital published in this Journal with more recent and longitudinal data. 1 This allows us to show that whilst the volume of social capital is not declining, it is becoming increasingly class specific, and that its relative aggregate stability masks considerable turnover at the individual level. These findings are significant for current debates on social capital.
Much recent sociology has argued that there has been a radical diminution in the impact of class ... more Much recent sociology has argued that there has been a radical diminution in the impact of class on other aspects of social behaviour both in the United Kingdom and in the rest of Europe. The basis for such an argument has often been reflection on cultural practice and ...
This article examines changes in tastes and practice in the context of establishing and maintaini... more This article examines changes in tastes and practice in the context of establishing and maintaining a new cross-national couple relationship. Interviews provided accounts of the experience of change among fourteen Anglo-French couples. We describe two processes of change which, because accentuated in cross-national couples, reveal mechanisms lying behind the transformation and stabilisation of tastes and diets. Explanation of the evolution of taste and diet can be found in the interplay between aesthetic and ethical drives, incorporated bodily practices, and social mechanisms of legitimation and integration. To make sense of gustatory and dietary change, tastes are best understood through their insertion in meaningful sequences, patterns, and series.
In this paper we explore the merits of interviews with bi-national couples about their eating hab... more In this paper we explore the merits of interviews with bi-national couples about their eating habits for casting light on cross-national comparison between foodways. In the context of an exploratory study looking at eating habits and change in France and Britain (England), we found that the experiences of cross-cultural couples and cross-national relocation were fruitful vehicles for the comparison of practices. Generally speaking, partners seeking to form a ‘commensal unit’ (Sobal et al., 2002) respond to varying and at times contradictory demands by setting up routines, drawing e.g. in alternated ways on cultural templates from the two countries. However, tensions are not always settled in such ordered ways. The present article studies breaks, shifts and ruptures with particular regard to cooking and lunch arrangements, as they reveal of wider pressures exerted on food practices in the two countries. Our analysis suggests that disorder and ruptures are part of the experience of the French culinary and alimentary ‘order’, whereas more polarised patterns of eating in the UK and related efforts to calculate and balance out the various functions assigned to food spur searches for consistency.
The concept of omnivorousness has become influential in the sociologies of culture and consumptio... more The concept of omnivorousness has become influential in the sociologies of culture and consumption, cited variously as evidence of altered hierarchies in cultural participation and as indicative of broader socio-cultural changes. The ‘omnivore thesis’ contends that there is a sector of the population of western countries who do and like a greater variety of forms of culture than previously, and that this broad engagement reflects emerging values of tolerance and undermines snobbery. This article draws on the findings of a study of cultural participation in the UK to explore the coherence of the omnivore thesis. It uses a survey to identify and isolate omnivores, and then proceeds to explore the meanings of omnivorousness through the analysis of in-depth, qualitative interviews with them. It concludes that, while there is evidence of wide cultural participation within the UK, the figure of the omnivore is less singularly distinctive than some studies have suggested.
This paper uses the findings from a new study of cultural tastes and participation in the UK to e... more This paper uses the findings from a new study of cultural tastes and participation in the UK to explore the characteristics of the cultural omnivore. It identifies some uncertainty in the existing literature about the precise elements of an omnivorous orientation in relation to (i) the relative importance of volume and composition of omnivorous tastes, (ii) the reliance on the secondary analysis of survey data for the identification and exposition of omnivorousness and (iii) the relationship between tolerance for a range of cultural items and other forms of tolerance. Taking as a starting point the claim that cultural omnivores are relatively open to diversity, and drawing on both survey data and qualitative interviews with omnivores, the paper analyses the characteristics of an omnivorous portfolio and considers in detail what and how omnivores dislike. It concludes that, whilst there is strong evidence of a decline in overt snobbishness in the UK, there is also evidence that omnivores have a more intensive involvement with ‘legitimate’ culture which goes alongside a selective appropriation of popular culture. In particular their dislikes reveal limits to openness which imply, paradoxically, a role for an omnivorous orientation in processes of distinction.
This article discusses the use of material generated in a mixed method investigation into cultura... more This article discusses the use of material generated in a mixed method investigation into cultural tastes and practices, conducted in Britain from 2003 to 2006, which employed a survey, focus groups and household interviews. The study analysed the patterning of cultural life across a number of fields, enhancing the empirical and methodological template provided by Bourdieu's Distinction. Here we discuss criticisms of Bourdieu emerging from subsequent studies of class, culture and taste, outline the arguments related to the use of mixed methods and present illustrative results from the analysis of these different types of data.We discuss how the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods informed our analysis of cultural life in contemporary Britain. No single method was able to shed light on all aspects of our inquiry, lending support to the view that mixing methods is the most productive strategy for the investigation of complex social phenomena.
This paper examines food eaten at meals in Great Britain. It presents findings about contemporary... more This paper examines food eaten at meals in Great Britain. It presents findings about contemporary meal content, reflecting on the relationship between meal content and occasion, and makes comparison with an earlier study. Drawing on an online survey (N=2784), conducted in September 2012, it describes the food consumed at daily eating events in terms of content, volume and complexity, common components and combinations, and sequence. Socio-demographic and economic differences are examined. Conceptual tools for analysing the association between food content and meal occasions are refined. The paper first explores the regularity of meal patterns. This is followed by description of the contours of the three principal daily eating events, with a brief section on snacks. The paper interprets distinctive features of current patterns by way of comparison with a similar study of eating habits in the 1950s. Findings reveal morning and midday eating events as simple and homogeneous in content, particularly on weekdays, with respondents breakfasting on cereal or toast, and lunching on sandwiches. Evening meals are more complex, structured and varied in content. Common patterns and systematic differentiation can be discerned, particularly across age cohort. Significant historical change can also be observed in relation to meal content and, to a lesser extent, meal pattern.
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