2010/06/01 by Michaela DeSoucey · 424 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Business, Management and Accounting · #Culinary Culture and Tourism #Wine Industry and Tourism #Organic Food and Agriculture #Politics #Emotive #Protectionism #Nationalism #Sociology #National identity #Consumption (sociology) #Political economy #Globalism #Political science #Social science #Economics #Law #Market economy
paper · doi:10.1177/0003122410372226
published in American Sociological Review 75(3), 432-455 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2010/06/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
By developing the concept of “gastronationalism,” this article challenges conceptions of the homogenizing forces of globalism. I analyze (1) the ways in which food production, distribution, and consumption can demarcate and sustain the emotive power of national attachment and (2) how nationalist sentiments, in turn, can shape the production and marketing of food. The multi-methodological analyses reveal how the construct of gastronationalism can help us better understand pan-national tensions in symbolic boundary politics—politics that protect certain foods and industries as representative of national cultural traditions. I first analyze the macro-level dimensions of market protections by examining the European Union’s program for origin-designation labels that delineates particular foods as nationally owned. The micro-level, empirical case—the politics surrounding foie gras in France—demonstrates how gastronationalism functions as a protectionist mechanism within lived experience. Foie gras is an especially relevant case because other parties within the pan-national system consider it morally objectionable. Contemporary food politics, beyond the insights it affords into symbolic boundary politics, speaks to several arenas of sociological interest, including markets, identity politics, authenticity and culture, and the complexities of globalization.