Showing papers by "Alan Warde published in 2014"

After taste: Culture, consumption and theories of practice

Abstract: Multi-disciplinary studies of consumption have proliferated in the last two decades. Heavily influenced by notions of ‘the consumer’ and tenets of ‘the cultural turn’, explanations have relied preponderantly upon models of voluntary action contextualised by webs of cultural meanings which constitute symbolic resources for individual choice. Arguably, the cultural turn has run its course and is beginning to unwind, a consequence of internal inconsistencies, misplaced emphases and the cycle of generational succession in theory development in the social sciences. Theories of practice provide a competing alternative approach which contests the colonisation of consumption by models of individual choice and cultural expressivism. To that end, this article explores the use of theories of practice as a lens to magnify aspects of common social processes which generate observable patterns of consumption. It is suggested that theories of practice might provide a general analytic framework for understanding consumption, one whose particular emphases capture important and relevant aspects overlooked by previously dominant approaches to consumption as culture. This article reviews reasons for the emergence of theories of practice and isolates some of their distinctive emphases. Strengths and weaknesses of the theory of practice as an approach to consumption are discussed.

Under pressure ? learning from the culinary and alimentary practices of Anglo-French couples for cross-national comparison?

Abstract: 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.

Food studies and the integration of multiple methods

Abstract: The study of food and eating draws evidence from many different disciplines using many different methods. This paper argues that this should be viewed positively; the idea that there is one best method, or suite of methods, to which every social scientist should be committed is at odds with both processes of knowledge formation and the complexity of alimentary life. The argument pursued is that complex research questions necessitate multiple sources and methods, the greatest challenge being to fashion and to justify an integrated interpretation of different types of data. The paper examines these issues with reference to debates about the use of mixed methods, which have mostly focused on the reconciliation within a single study of quantitative and qualitative data. The exploration is illustrated by evidence from a study of the activity of eating out. It is suggested that the combination of evidence produced by different methods may be the key to generating explanations, and ultimately theories, which transcend disciplinary boundaries.

Introduction: towards dynamic comparative analysis

Abstract: Comparison is at the heart of social sciences, and the study of ‘other’ culinary cultures is as old as the study of food practices – as a privileged and enduring object of anthropology. More recently, the cross-national comparison of food habits has received a new impulse from other quarters, as the association of eating habits with public health issues has come under scrutiny. Whereas the former had fostered studies of eating practices and their meaning within an overall social organisation,...