the practice of eating: counting time and money alan warde, university of manchester economic and...
TRANSCRIPT
The practice of eating: counting time and money
Alan Warde, University of Manchester
Economic and Social Data Service, ESRC Social Science Week 2007, ‘All Consuming: consumption research findings
from government surveys, British Academy, 1 November 2007
Counting time and money
Introduction
Food and consumption
Changing behaviour
The analysis of practice: saying and doing
Trust in Food: national differences
The organization of eating
Meals and the family
Eating out
Conclusion
2. Changing behaviourFour strategies for changing behaviour are commonly pursued. Strategies for change?
lever for change
collective regulation personal education homo economicus financial incentives information(rational action) homo sociologicus prohibition conversion(normative action) mode of individual action All have a part to play but not resoundingly successful because based on weak understanding of consumption and its dynamics.
A “practice” (Praktik) is a routinised type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, “things”
and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of
emotion and motivational knowledge.
Reckwitz A (2002) Toward a theory of social practices: a development in culturalist theorizing, European Journal of Social
Theory, 5(2), 249
It is very safe to eat …. (per cent)
0
50
100
150
200
250
E.Germ W.Germ Italy Portugal Norway Denmark GB
Burgers
Beef
Can.tom
Tomato
Index 12 foods
20,7 18,8 19,4 31,5 31,2 35,8 50,8
Do you think that the conditions for (prices, quality, farming methods, health, safety) have improved, are more or less the same or have rather deteriorated over the last
twenty years? (>1 – net improvement, <1 – net deterioration)
1.5
1.3
1.3
1.2
1.1
1.5
1.3
1.1
1
1.1
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.2
1.3
1.1
1
0.3
1.2
1.1
1.1
0.9
0.5
1.1
1
1
0.50.2
1.1
0.8
0.8
0.6
0.4
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
G.Britain Denmark Norway E.Germany W.Germany Portugal Italy
Safety Nutrition Farming methods Quality Price
Imagine a scandal with salmonella in chicken, would the following actors … tell the whole
truth? (per cent)
53
30
4
53
29
4
45
31
10
49
26
6
44
36
17
56
41
16
65
47
10
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
E.Germany W.Germany Italy Portugal G.Britain Denmark Norway
Cons org Experts Media Authorities Farmers Superm Industry Politicians
Super-markets
Authorities
Experts
Diffusion of the culture of consumption
• Time use and expenditure patterns in five countries between 1971 and 2000.
• France, USA, UK, Norway, Netherlands• Three practices: eating, reading, travelling• Eating inc. visiting, entertaining, eating at home and
eating out
With Southerton, Olsen and Cheng. Financed by Economic and Social Research Council, UK, Programme on ‘Cultures of Consumption’: http:www/consume.bbk.ac.uk
Time Spent Eating at home Eating at home. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59
MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE
c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 54 79 97 99 USA 42 52 n/a 90 Norway 50 80 93 98 Netherlands 66 76 99 99 France 96 95 98 99
Cooking and washing up. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59
MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE
c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 51 57 88 72 USA 39 48 56 62 Norway 47 79 83 67 Netherlands 51 61 94 87 France 50 72 67 77
Comparing time and money - eating at home
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Year
Min
ute
s
0
5
10
15
20
25
%
UK time
Norway time
USA time
France time
NL time
UK %EH
USA %EH
France %EH
NL %EH
3 Eating at home, eating out and food preparation: national profiles
Almost everyone spent some time eating at home.Everywhere except France, the amount of time spent has, on average, reduced. Time allocated to domestic food consumption is minimal in USA.
Time devoted to cooking reduced in all five countries. Decline most marked in Norway and France (32 and 22 minutes). Common sources?: supermarketization, provision of part prepared convenience foods, new kitchen technologies, etc.. Time spent in Europe at the end of the 1990s was about the same as in USA in 1975.
Everywhere eating and drinking away from home increased. French and Americans now spend most time on eating out, Britons not far behind.
Eating and food preparation takes up considerably less time in the USA than in Europe. In France eating and drinking, uniquely, take up more time at the end of the century than it had in 1974.
Eating and drinking out. Minutes per day and rate of participation, respondents age 20 - 59
MEAN MINUTES PARTICIPATION: % of SAMPLE
c. 2000 c. 1975 c. 2000 c. 1975 UK 25 11 43 32 USA 30 28 n/a 32 Norway 14 8 17 12 Netherlands 5 4 39 18 France 30 15 27 23
Comparing time and money - eating out
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
Year
Min
ute
s
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
%
UK time
Norway time
USA time
France time
NL time
UK %EO
USA %EO
France %EO
NL %EO
Satisfaction expressed with last meal on commercial premises (percentages by row). How did you enjoy ..?
liked a lot liked a little neither dislike a little dislike a lot
company 89 6 3 - 0
conversation 80 14 4 - -
food 80 13 3 2 1
atmosphere 72 18 6 2 1
value 67 17 6 5 2
service 65 22 6 4 2
décor 56 24 15 2 1
overall occasion
81 14 3 2 -
Duration of episodes of eating and drinking at home and away from home, weekdays and weekends (in brackets), 1975 & 2000. UK population, aged 16-65. Percentage of discrete events lasting half hour, an hour or longer than an hour.
1975 2000 10-30 30-60 60+ 10-30 30-60 60+
Eating and drinking at home 87 (84) 12 (15) 1 (1) 83 (79) 15 (18) 2 (3)
Eating and drinking out 22(14) 24 (23) 54 (63) 55 (52) 27 (26) 18 (22)
Temporal re-organisation of eating in UK, 1975-2000
• duration of domestic meals has not radically altered.• more intense dependence on commodified provision. • more shorter episodes of eating away from home but many of longer duration (short episodes are additional, not substitutes). • weakening distinction between weekday and weekend, indicate greater temporal (and spatial) flexibility. • people allocate a substantial amount of time to eating and drinking in public spaces, but without sign of diminished significance for eating at home.
A Social Map of Consumer Tastes:
Factor analysis of the budget share of 81 spending categories1961
-1
0
1
-1 0 1
factor1
factor2
domestic service charity
spiritswomen's outerwear
cash giftswomen's underwear
plants flowers
wine
sports goods
new car
air water travel
coffee
pipecoal coke
drug medicine
lambnespaper
fish teamilkbuttersugar
cheese
bacon
beef
vegetable
jam
fruits
toilet paper eggs
bread
biscuits
oils
sausage
magarine
potato
offalpork
cocoa
cereal
ice cream
soft drink
betting
sweetscigarettes
short saving
football match
beer
men's underwear
DIY
TU
kid's money
toys games
cameradancing
jewellery
restaurants
cinema
women's shoes
2nd-hand car
men's shoesmen's clothes
hairdressing
petrol
AA RAC
rail tubebooks
glass china
leather travel goodsholiday
sports clubpoultry
animal pets
taxi
cigarprivate medical
theatre
household textilecutlerytv audio
older
food -respectable
food - basic
working class
old glamour
traveller
going out
2004
-1
0
1
-1 0 1factor1
factor2
charity
cocoa, coffee
plants
fish
beef
fruits
hairdressing
cash giftsmedicine
domestic service
AA/RAC
sugar
bread
creals, whole milk
tobacco
cigarettes, soft drinksbeer
taxi
women's shoes
women's underwear
dancing
men's shoes
cinemaDIY
books
women's clothes
TU prof org
savingsoverseas holiday
wine
restaurant
sports club
new car
private medical
theatre
railway tubecosmetics glass, china
air & water travel
household textilemen's underwear
poultryanimal pets
jams, betting
cigar
jewellery
2nd-hand car
camera
football match
leather travel goods
men's clothessports goods petrol kid's money
toys gamescutlery
coal coketv audio
toilet paper
magarinetea, bacon
biscuitspotato
newspaperbutter
vegetable
lamb
offal
spirits
sweetsice cream
sausage egg
oils
porkcheese