Mass retailing affected how people shop for food but also how the food was distributed all along, the local and global supply chain. Supermarkets are the largest and which holds more of the power in the agri-food supply chains. Thus they also affect what happened with other possible grocery shops, such as the smaller shops, farmers markets and wholesale markets of fruits and vegetables.
There has been some resistance to the supermarket model. For example, consumer activist have lead some changes through i) Local Agrifood Systems and ii) Alternative Systems such as fair trade, food sovereignty, supranational certification agencies (Clapp, 2012). Local Agrifood System (Systèmes Agroalimentaries Localisés, or SYAL) have emphasis on the community of a specific enclave and their shared forms of knowledge and identity as well its focus is on a territorial production. Alternative Systems are focused also on the place but in a socially constructed way, emphasizing distribution and consumption of a particular commodity.
According to Bowen and Mutersbaugh (2013) SYAL is also linked to environmental characteristics and cultural knowledge, as well political-economy dynamics assert to indicate that the territory determinates rural development. The extensions of this approach is reflected in the territorially based and cooperative agriculture in Mediterranean Europe and Latin America, state-sponsored instructions such as denominations of origins and Geographical indications, mostly in Latin America and Asia (Bowen and Mutersbaugh, 2013).
Alternative Systems contains several different initiatives but with some elements in common, such as the focus on ‘embeddedness,’ which is conceived as social connections in which food relations are circum...
... middle of paper ...
...Glazer, N. Y. (1993). Women's paid and unpaid labor: The work transfer in health care and retailing. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Herrmann, A. (2002). Shopping for identities: gender and consumer culture. Feminist studies: FS, 28(3), 539.
Hinrichs, C. C. (2000). Embeddedness and local food systems: notes on two types of direct agricultural market. Journal of rural studies, 16(3), 295-303.
Humphery, K. (1998). Shelf life: supermarkets and the changing cultures of consumption. Cambridge University Press.
Koch, S. L. (2013). A Theory of Grocery Shopping: Food, Choice and Conflict. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Koch, S. L., & Sprague, J. (2014). Economic Sociology vs. Real Life: The Case of Grocery Shopping. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 73(1), 237-263.
Veblen, T. (2005). The theory of the leisure class; an economic study of institutions. Aakar Books.
The book The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, by Wayne Roberts introduces us to the concept of “food system”, which has been neglected by many people in today’s fast-changing and fast-developing global food scene. Roberts points out that rather than food system, more people tend to recognize food as a problem or an opportunity. And he believes that instead of considering food as a “problem”, we should think first and foremost about food as an “opportunity”.
There has been withstanding controversy about whether fast food is easier on the pocket than eating home-cooked meals. Take McDonald’s for instance, they’re notorious for their convenient and affordable dollar and value menus. Since you can get a burger for just $1.19, feeding a family of four should be inexpensive right? Mark Bittman, author of “Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?” argues otherwise. He claims that fast food is not at all cheaper than buying a few groceries and cooking at home. He expresses the different myths about fast food like how it is supposedly cheaper than real food when measured by the calorie, the mentality of people that if it isn’t fast food, it has to be costly organic food, and that there just isn’t enough time to cook at home. These myths followed by genuine factors such as addictions and a cultural impact, help Bittman prove his argument’s validity across to his audience. I have to say that Bittman proved his argument’s effectiveness, for he clearly stated his thesis and provided various reliable
RNRA Team, “Supermarkets, Fresh Produce and New Commodity Chains: What Future for the Small Producer?” Hot Topics: February, 2004.
In Raj Patel’s novel Stuffed and Starved, Patel goes through every aspect of the food production process by taking the experiences of all the people involved in food production from around the world. Patel concludes by eventually blaming both big corporations and governments for their critical role in undermining local, cultural, and sustainable foodways and in so doing causing the key food-related problems of today such as starvation and obesity. In this book of facts and serious crime, Patel's Stuffed and Starved is a general but available analysis of global food struggles that has a goal of enlightening and motivating the general Western public that there is something critically wrong with our food system.
This is due to the symbiotic relationship Walmart has to its consumers, they are able to offer lower prices in more locations and consumers desire affordability and proximity. Despite the obvious domination of the economy by Walmart, less conventional producers and consumers are present and on the rise. Local rather than global and small rather than large, the increase of these less conventional manners of production can be seen in the increase abundance of farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), and community gardens. Farmers’ markets are common areas where farmers meet on a regular basis and sell various fresh produce directly to the consumers. The number of farmer’s markets between 1994 and 2014 has increased from around 2,000 to 8,000 (ers.usda,gov). Farmer’s offer an aesthetic that Walmart cannot provide—the opportunity to be personable. The consumer is able to see who grew the food, ask how it was grown, and will not be dazzled by fancy packaging or
Over the years, the American department store has developed and evolved as not only a commercial business but also a cultural institution. While it has weathered many storms and changes since its inception and throughout history, its most predominant enemy has been a change in the lifestyle of the American people (Whitaker, 2013). As the customer’s needs and wants have shifted, department stores have struggled to keep up with demands. It has been argued that the decline of the department store has been ongoing for the last 50 years (Whitaker, 2013). This dissertation aims to understand how the department store has historically played a role in consumer culture and spending, and additionally, how this has evolved and changed in today’s retail market. Although department stores may not be able to take all the credit for inventing modern shopping, they certainly made its conventions and conveniences commonplace. They set a new standard for the way the consumer should expect to be treated, the type of services that should be provided, and the convenience that should attend the process of acquiring the necessities and niceties of life all in one place. They made shopping into a leisure pastime. This environment meant shopping was a means of freedom to look around, pick up objects with no obligations to buy. As one historian remarked, department stores: “encouraged a perception of the building as a public place, where consumption itself was almost incidental to the delights of a sheltered promenade in a densely crowded, middle-class urban space” (Whitaker, 2006). Although this perception and view of the department store has changed over the years, this paper aims to follow the trail of how and why that happened.
UK’s exit from the European Union following the Referendum on 23rd June 2016 has exerted tremendous and profound impact on UK grocery industry. Many experts warn that devalued sterling will force the prices to go up and bring a tough time for the industry. However, Lidl, a German no-frills supermarket, has emerged to be the fastest growing supermarket with a 12.2 percent increase on sales from June to August (Denton, 2016). In the early 90’s, Lidl opened its first UK store. Insisting on providing qualified products with low prices, it has expanded rapidly in UK and owns more than 640 stores now. It also won the 2016 Good Housekeeping Awards as the Best Supermarket (Lidl, 2016). With no doubt, Brexit greatly changes the business
American citizens economic standing plays a role in the what foods they buy, where they buy, and their accessibility to buy. According to the United States Department of Agriculture an estimated twenty-three and a half million people live in a “food desert”. which is an urban or rural community that has little to no access to fresh food distributors such as a supermarket or farmers market. A lot of times these communities only food options are convenience stores and fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and 7-Eleven, that...
The freedom to choose and globalization helped in the establishment of modern super markets. A standard supermarket displays more than 30,000 items (Cross, 2000:55). Assu...
The concept of grocery stores and supermarkets industry is an idea that has been created in order to make easier human`s life. According to the study “The Evolution of the Supermarket Industry From A&P to Wal-Mart” by Ellickson, who explains that a century ago people had to jump from one store to another store in order to get different products such as milk, meat, bread and other products. In addition, in the article “Understanding Groceries Industry” by The Reinvestment Fund, they state that back in a day the concept of grocery stores was created based on the owner`s store needs. Later on, as the development of the society and the standards of customer needs increased, the owners of the grocery stores started to be more focused on their customer needs. Also, the study of “Understanding Groceries Industry” shows that the supermarket and grocery stores industry is in their mature stage as they have developed an extensive and solid customer service.
James, Fredric. 1988. "Postmodernism and Consumer Society." In Studies in Culture: An Introductory Reader, ed. Ann Gray and Jim McGuigan. London: Arnold, 1997, pp. 192-205.
Shopping and philosophy: Postmodernism is the new black. (2006, December 19). The Economist, Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/8401159.
...ive in economical, sociological and environmental terms. Placed within an urban-scale landscape concept offering the host city a variety of lifestyle advantages and few, if any, unsustainable drawbacks. These city-traversing open spaces are running through the built environment, connecting all kinds of existing inner-city open spaces and relating to the surrounding rural area. Vegetation as well as people is able to flow into the city and out of it, partially helping the city become open and wild. Producing edible landscapes or consuming food where it has just grown establishes a healthy and sustainable balance of production and consumption. It is an effective and practical as well as self-beneficial way of reducing the energy embodied in contemporary food production. So what affects the growth of biophilic cities? Is food politics a global or a local phenomenon?
Challenges in Today's U.S. Supermarket Industry. 2014. Challenges in Today's U.S. Supermarket Industry. [ONLINE] Available at:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479076.aspx. [Accessed 31 March 2014].
Sassatelli, R. (2007). Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage, Page 30, Page 126, Page 132, Page 133