Soc 149b
Brandeis University
Spring 2016
M W 3:30-4:50
Laura Miller
Office: Pearlman 103
736-2643
lamiller@brandeis.edu
office hours: M 12:00-1:00
W 2:00-3:00
and by appointment
The Social Production of Food
Food is more than a means of sustenance; it mediates social relations, transmits cultural values, and
underlies a great deal of economic activity. This course examines the social context shaping the
literal and symbolic production of food. From the perspective of the symbolic dimension, we will
consider the production of cultural meanings attached to food, its preparation, and rituals of eating.
When thinking about the literal dimension, we will consider the institutional and industrial creation
of food and meals, with a particular focus on their status as commodities in contemporary society.
This agenda entails an examination of the social arrangements governing who makes decisions
about, and who does the actual work of, food production and preparation, as well as studying the
settings in which these processes occur. It also includes a consideration of how these different issues
are related to gender and social class, and to the domestic and political spheres. In the first few
weeks, we will focus on the variable meanings that food takes on, and the role that food plays in the
formation of group identities and solidarity. Next, we consider the industrialization of the food
supply and corresponding efforts to find alternatives. Finally, we consider the social agencies, from
cookbooks and television cooking shows, to religious authorities, nutritional experts, government
bodies, private enterprise, and educational institutions, which try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to shape
tastes and habits in the realm of food. While we will read works from a number of perspectives, the
primary emphasis of the course will be on how sociologists have addressed these issues.
Learning Goals
Students who complete this course will:
1. Explore how systems of food provision and consumption are related to social, cultural, and
political factors
2. Gain an understanding of sociological perspectives on food and eating
3. Assess contemporary debates related to food production
4. Apply academic concepts and theories to concrete food products and processes
Requirements
Students are expected to keep up with the readings, attend class regularly, and actively participate
in discussions. In addition, you will complete one short paper covering readings and other course
material, a research paper consisting of either a comparison of two food retail establishments or a
comparison of the origins of two food products, and a take-home final that relates course material
to primary sources, such as menus or cookbooks.
Success in this 4 credit hour course is based on the expectation that students will spend a minimum
of 9 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (doing readings, papers, discussion
sections, etc.).
I expect courtesy in the classroom. That means arriving to class on time, staying put once you are
there, turning cell phones off before class begins, no texting, and no side conversations. Please
recognize how distracting these latter behaviors are for your classmates and your instructor. If you
bring food or drink to class, remember to clean up after yourself.
My policy on laptops is that they should be used only for class-related purposes. Other uses are
highly distracting for you, for me, and for those sitting around you. If I notice you reading email,
checking Facebook, watching a broadcast or anything else not related to class, I will call you on it.
If these behaviors become a persistent problem, then laptops will be prohibited in class.
Evaluation
First paper (4-5 pages)
Research paper
Take-home final
Participation
30%
35%
30%
5%
Students are expected to uphold standards of academic integrity. Each student is expected to turn
in work completed independently. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person
without proper acknowledgement of that source. This means that you must use references and,
where appropriate, quotation marks to indicate the source of any phrases, sentences, or ideas not your
own -- whether they are found in written materials or on the Internet, and whether they are created
by a published author, another student, or your parent. Violations of University policies on academic
integrity may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in suspension from
the University. Students with questions about standards of academic integrity are advised to consult
Section 4 of Rights and Responsibilities from the Brandeis Student Handbook and/or speak to me.
If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for
clarification.
If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability, you
should contact me, and present your letter of accommodation, as soon as possible. If you have
questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should
contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services at 736-3470 (brodgers@brandeis.edu). Letters of
accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of
accommodations. Accommodations cannot be granted retroactively.
The following books are available for purchase from the university bookstore:
Alice P. Julier, Eating Together: Food, Friendship, and Inequality. Urbana, IL: University
of Illinois Press, 2013.
Tracie McMillan, The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm
Fields and the Dinner Table. New York: Scribner's, 2012.
Janet Poppendieck, Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2010.
These books are also on reserve at the library.
The readings for weeks 1-4 are on the Latte site for this class. Look at the section titled "Readings."
All other readings are contained in a custom course packet. Information on how to purchase this will
be announced in class.
There is also an area on Latte with links to organizations and other resources related to issues we will
be discussing in class. This may be useful for those who would like to pursue these issues further,
either during the course or sometime in the future. I may be adding to this site as the course
progresses, so you may want to check it periodically.
Course Schedule
week 1
Jan 13
Introduction
Meanings of Food and Eating
weeks 2-3
Jan 20-27
What Is Fit to Eat: Tastes and Taboos
Claude Fischler, "Food, Self and Identity." Social Science Information, Vol. 27, No. 2, June
1988, pp. 275-292.
Marshall Sahlins, Culture and Practical Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1976, pp. 170-179.
Bob Ashley, Joanne Hollows, Steve Jones, and Ben Taylor, Food and Cultural Studies.
London: Routledge, 2004, chap. 4.
Julia Twigg, "Vegetarianism and the Meanings of Meat." In Anne Murcott, ed., The
Sociology of Food and Eating: Essays on the Sociological Significance of Food.
Aldershot, Hants: Gower, 1983, pp. 18-30.
Roberta Sassatelli and Federica Davolio, "Consumption, Pleasure and Politics: Slow Food
and the Politico-Aesthetic Problematization of Food." Journal of Consumer Culture,
Vol. 10, No. 2, July 2010, pp. 202-232.
week 4
Feb 1-3
Identity: Class, Ethnicity, and Nationalism
Wendy Wills, Kathryn Backett-Milburn, Mei-Li Roberts, and Julia Lawton, "The Framing
of Social Class Distinctions through Family Food and Eating Practices." Sociological
Review, Vol. 59, No. 4, November 2011, pp. 725-740.
Brenda L. Beagan, Gwen E. Chapman, Josée Johnston, Deborah McPhail, Elaine M. Power,
and Helen Vallianatos, Acquired Tastes: Why Families Eat the Way They Do.
Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015, chap. 6.
Rachel Slocum, "Whiteness, Space and Alternative Food Practice." Geoforum, Vol. 38, No.
3, May 2007, pp. 520-533.
Josée Johnston, Shyon Baumann, and Kate Cairns, "The National and the Cosmopolitan in
Cuisine: Constructing America through Gourmet Food Writing." In David Inglis and
Debra Gimlin, eds., The Globalization of Food. Oxford: Berg, 2009, pp. 161-183.
week 5
Feb 8-10
Social Conditions of Cooking and Eating
Alice P. Julier, Eating Together: Food, Friendship, and Inequality. Urbana, IL: University
of Illinois Press, 2013, chaps. 3-5.
Industrializing the Food Supply
week 6
Feb 22-24
Why Cook? Processed and Packaged Food
Laura Shapiro, Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America. New York:
Penguin, 2004, chaps. 1 & 2.
Michelle Szabo, "The Challenges of "Re-engaging with Food": Connecting Employment,
Household Patterns and Gender Relations to Convenience Food Consumption in
North America." Food, Culture & Society, Vol. 14, No. 4, December 2011, pp.
547-566.
short paper due Wednesday, February 24th
week 7
The Development of Agribusiness and Factory Farming
Feb 29-Mar 2
Deborah Fitzgerald, Every Farm a Factory: The Industrial Ideal in American Agriculture.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, chap. 4.
David Goodman, Bernardo Sorj, and John Wilkinson, From Farming to Biotechnology: A
Theory of Agro-Industrial Development. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987, chap. 1.
Loka Ashwood, Danielle Diamond, and Kendall Thu, "Where's the Farmer? Limiting
Liability in Midwestern Industrial Hog Production." Rural Sociology, Vol. 79, No.
1, March 2014, pp. 2-27.
week 8
Mar 7-9
Labor: The Work of Food from Field to Finished Product
Tracie McMillan, The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm
Fields and the Dinner Table. New York: Scribner's, 2012, "Before You Read This
Book" & chaps. 1, 2, 3, 8.
week 9
Mar 14-16
Globalization of the Food Supply
William H. Friedland, "The New Globalization: The Case of Fresh Produce." In Alessandro
Bonanno, Lawrence Busch, William H. Friedland, Lourdes Gouveia and Enzo
Mingione, eds., From Columbus to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and
Food. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1994, pp. 210-231.
Sasha Issenberg, The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy.
New York: Gotham Books, 2007, chaps. 2 & 5.
Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas H. Constance, Stories of Globalization: Transnational
Corporations, Resistance, and the State. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2008, chap. 5.
Jennifer Clapp and Eric Helleiner, "Troubled Futures? The Global Food Crisis and the
Politics of Agricultural Derivatives Regulation." Review of International Political
Economy, Vol. 19, No. 2, May 2012, pp. 181-207.
week 10
Mar 21-23
Distribution: Getting Food to Market
Doris Fuchs, Agni Kalfagianni, and Maarten Arentsen, "Retail Power, Private Standards, and
Sustainability in the Global Food System." In Jennifer Clapp and Doris Fuchs, eds.,
Corporate Power in Global Agrifood Governance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
2009, pp. 29-59.
Nathan McClintock, "From Industrial Garden to Food Desert: Demarcated Devaluation in
the Flatlands of Oakland, California." In Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman,
eds., Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 2011, pp. 89-120.
Tracie McMillan, The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm
Fields and the Dinner Table. New York: Scribner's, 2012, chaps. 5 & 7.
week 11
Mar 30
New Frontiers: Biotechnology
Rachel Schurman and William A. Munro, Fighting for the Future of Food: Activists Versus
Agribusiness in the Struggle Over Biotechnology. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2010, chaps. 2 & 5.
Curbing Illicit Appetites: Forms of Social Control
week 12
Apr 4-6
Instruction: Cookbooks and Cooking Shows
Laura J. Miller and Emilie Hardman, "By the Pinch and the Pound: Less and More Protest
in American Vegetarian Cookbooks from the Nineteenth Century to the Present." In
James L. Baughman, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen and James P. Danky, eds., Protest
on the Page: Essays on Print and the Culture of Dissent Since 1865. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 2015, pp. 111-136.
Kathleen Collins, Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows. New
York: Continuum, 2009, chap. 6.
Isabelle de Solier, "TV Dinners: Culinary Television, Education and Distinction."
Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol. 19, No. 4, December 2005,
pp. 465-481.
week 13
Apr 11-13
Claims to Authority
Stephen Mennell, "On the Civilizing of Appetite." Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 4, No.
2, June 1987, pp. 373-403.
Donna R. Gabaccia, We Are What We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of Americans.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998, chap. 5.
Marjorie DeVault, "Between Science and Food: Nutrition Professionals in the Health Care
Hierarchy." Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 12, 1995, pp. 287-312.
Naomi Aronson, "Social Definitions of Entitlement: Food Needs 1885-1920." Media,
Culture and Society, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1982, pp. 51-61.
research paper due Monday, April 11th
week 14
Apr 18-20
Is This Cook Wanted in the Kitchen? Government Regulation
Ilyse D. Barkan, "Industry Invites Regulation: The Passge of the Pure Food and Drug Act of
1906." American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 75, No. 1, January 1985, pp. 18-26.
Marion Nestle, Safe Food: The Politics of Food Safety, updated and expanded ed. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2010 [2003], pp. 27-31 & chap. 3.
James S. Turner, The Chemical Feast: The Ralph Nader Study Group Report on Food
Protection and the Food and Drug Administration. New York: Grossman, 1970,
chap. 2.
Michael Pollan, "The Vegetable-Industrial Complex." New York Times Magazine, October
15, 2006, pp. 17-19.
week 15
May 2
Feed the Children: School Food
Janet Poppendieck, Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2010, Introduction; chaps. 1, 3, & 8.
Take-home final due Friday, May 6th (seniors)
Wednesday, May 11th (all others)