A Theory of Grocery Shopping Food, Choice and Conflict

by Koch, Shelley L.

• ISBN13: 9780857851505
• ISBN10: 0857851500
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-05
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Grocery shopping is an often ignored part of the story of how food ultimately gets to our pantry shelves and tables. A Theory of Grocery Shoppingexplores the social organization of grocery shopping by linking the lived experience of grocery shoppers and retail managers in the US with information transmitted by nutritionists, government employees, financial advisors, journalists, health care providers and marketers, who influence the way we think about and perform the work of shopping for a household's food. The author provides insight into the contradictory messages that shape how consumers provision their households, and details how consumers respond to these messages. The book challenges the consumer choice model that places responsibility on the shopper for making the "right" choice at the grocery store, thereby ignoring the larger social forces at work, which determine what products are available and how they get to the shelves.

Author Biography

Shelley L. Koch is Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Assistant Director of the Masters of Arts program in Community and Organizational Leadership at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia, USA.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Shopping Our Way To ChangeThe Historical and Social Context of Grocery ShoppingThe Work of Grocery ShoppingShopping and Nutrition DiscourseThe Efficient Housewife DiscourseThe Food Marketing Discourse Competing Discourses and The Work Of Food Shopping ConclusionBibliographyIndex