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The structure of food taste in 21 st century Britain
Author(s) -
Atkinson Will
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12876
Subject(s) - existentialism , ethnic group , taste , structuring , space (punctuation) , construct (python library) , sociology , position (finance) , social psychology , psychology , epistemology , anthropology , political science , economics , law , philosophy , linguistics , finance , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
This paper draws on the concepts and tools of Pierre Bourdieu to construct a comprehensive model of the contemporary British “food space.” It uses multiple correspondence analysis to unearth a space structured in two key dimensions revolving around the lean and the rich. A host of supplementary variables are available to examine the relationship, or homology, between food tastes and broader alimentary dispositions, including orientations toward shopping, ethics and cooking. Indicators of social position reveal the structuring of the space by economic and cultural capital as well as gender, but also, updating and nuancing Bourdieu's own model for 1970s’ France, by age, region, ethnicity and religion. Finally, the paper examines the relationship between position in the food space and physical, mental and existential wellbeing, demonstrating that orientation toward the less healthy and the less rich, corresponding with few resources, is, in some cases, accompanied by not only hunger and deprivation but profound worry and misery.