Victual Vicissitudes: Consumer Deskilling and the (Gendered) Transformation of Food Systems |
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Authors: | JoAnn Jaffe Michael Gertler |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Sociology and Social Studies, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2, Canada;(2) Department of Sociology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada |
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Abstract: | A considerable literature addresses worker deskilling in manufacturing and the related loss of control over production processes
experienced by farmers and others working in the agri-food industry. Much less attention has been directed at a parallel process
of consumer deskilling in the food system, which has been no less important. Consumer deskilling in its various dimensions
carries enormous consequences for the restructuring of agro-food systems and for consumer sovereignty, diets, and health.
The prevalence of packaged, processed, and industrially transformed foodstuffs is often explained in terms of consumer preference
for convenience. A closer look at the social construction of “consumers” reveals that the agro-food industry has waged a double
disinformation campaign to manipulate and to re-educate consumers while appearing to respond to consumer demand. Many consumers
have lost the knowledge necessary to make discerning decisions about the multiple dimensions of quality, including the contributions
a well-chosen diet can make to health, planetary sustainability, and community economic development. They have also lost the
skills needed to make use of basic commodities in a manner that allows them to eat a high quality diet while also eating lower
on the food chain and on a lower budget. This process has a significant gender dimension, as it is the autonomy of those primarily
responsible for purchasing and preparing foodstuffs that has been systematically undermined. Too often, food industry professionals
and regulatory agencies have been accessories to this process by misdirecting attention to the less important dimensions of
quality.
JoAnn Jaffe teaches rural, environmental, and development sociology, the sociology of gender, and theory in the Department of Sociology
and Social Studies of the University of Regina.
Michael Gertler teaches rural sociology, the sociology of communities, and the sociology of agriculture in the Department of Sociology at
the University of Saskatchewan. He holds a cross appointment in the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives. |
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Keywords: | Consumer deskilling Consumerism Food system Gendered relations of consumption McDonaldization North America Provisioning |
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