French Sociology of Food and its Contemporary Issues

Perspectives from Sociology of Eaters

Abstract

French sociological theories have been widely used in food studies, however, little has been known about the French ‘sociology of food’ as an academic tradition. Although sociologists in Japan also have increasing interests into contemporary food issues, Japanese sociology of food as discipline has not been institutionalized. This article is aimed at introducing the French sociology of food and its contemporary development. The sociology of food has birthed in the 1980s by overcoming the epistemological obstacles in thematising food within sociology (Durkheim) and experiencing the evolution from sociologies of food consumption (Halbwachs) to taste (Bourdieu) and eaters (Fischler, Corbeau and Poulain). It is also argued that the perspective of its core philosophy, ‘totality of food’, enables us to trace its consistent research progress from the 1980s until today. Their sociological understanding of contemporary eating, such as gastro-anomie and the rise of new regulatory bodies (science, laws, tradition and politics), is suggestive of Japanese sociology of food and general food studies.