Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Roland Barthes
In "Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption" Roland Barthes discusses how food should not be seen as insignificant. He says that psychosociology focuses indirectly on eating habits and should be paid more attention. In fact, food and culture are hugely related such as sugar in America. It has become common to have sugar in almost all American food and is so popular there are even songs. Yet in other cultures such as the French culture, sugar does not play a large part. He describes how culture influences tastes and so does class. Barthes goes on to say how food is a “situation”. Coffee for example, became associated more with the idea of taking a break then its’ effect on the nervous system which ties in with his claim about food and advertising. Advertising has become a huge part of culture and Barthes states that because of this advertising people have become loyal to the brand more than the food. He claims food makes its’ own statement. Barthes ends by stating food effects culture and culture effects food and the circle will forever continue.
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Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI think you're on to something here, especially the first sentence. Barthes' thesis, or one of them, is to argue that food is not just nutritive, but could be a significant object of study for a range of disciplines. What I would like to see is more work being done to track the stages of thought. For a summary of the essay, this is far too short. Think of ways (use Behrens) you might productively expand this summary.
James
In "Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption" Roland Barthes argues that food is not simply a necessity, but that it has a 'lifeblood' that is all its; own. At first Barthes describes the use of sugar in America. He uses this example to show how culturally involved sugar has become in American society. Sugar has become an institution and is no longer seen as just a required food group. Barthes goes on to argue that food is a means of "communication, a body of images, a protocol of wages, situations, and behavior" (29). He argues that people can communicate by food by simply having a certain dish, such as pain de mie, which signifies a party. Advertising he argues, creates a body of imagws that representcertain ideas. Coffee for example, has been so advertised, it is now seen as a break. The protocol of wages aspect is demonstrated through the price of food. How much one earns can be displayed by what they chose to buy to consume. Somone who buys caviar for example, is assumed to make more than someone who just buys cheese and crackers. The situations aspect of food is extremely important in this article. Barthes argues that food becomes situational. The coffee example is now tied with the situation of a break then the effect it has on the nervous system. Behavior is also effected by food. Certain dishes signify certain things which in turn signify how one is to behave. A party dish such as the pain de mie will signify a party atmosphere and therefore the behavior of someone at a party. Barthes ends by stating food effects culture and culture effects food and the circle will forever continue.
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