JARRETT PASCHEL
Ph.D., Department of Sociology
The University of Washington
Project title: "Food and the Production of
Middle-Class Taste in the South"
I propose a research project to document the eating habits and food
culture--as well as food preferences and their associated connections
to lifestyle markers--among middle-class families in the South.
Supplementing this research, however, is a general theoretical perspective
which contends that eating habits and associated components of food
culture can only be properly understood in relation to larger patterns
of consumption and production. This research agenda should offer
an innovative, comprehensive portrait of middle-class lifestyles
and culture, one which will advance our theoretical understanding
pf the relations between economy, society and culture. I distinguish
between individual taste and a collective hierarchy of taste and
preference--an organizational process responsible for constructing,
reifying and reproducing a generalized body of collectively-held
knowledge regarding a specific world of activity such as food and
eating.
My research will include a careful study and documentation of
food culture, eating habits and consumption patterns among middle-class
Southern families. At the same time I will remain focused on the
assorted connections between consumers (and their eating habits
and preferences) and the remainder of individuals, organizations,
symbols and rituals comprising the larger food world. Among other
things I am interested in looking at the origin and dispersion of
"barbecue culture" in the South.
"When + Where
= How: A Preliminary Examination of the Role of Context in Taste
and Preference Decisions"
(Working Paper 017-02) April 2002
Jarrett Paschel
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