Trust in food in modern and late-modern societies

Abstract

This article investigates the way mainstream social theories of trust can help us understand how trust in food is produced and maintained in modern and late- or postmodern societies. In the first section, the author identifies and discusses three theoretical bases for trust in food: emotional, habitual and reflexive trust. He puts a particular emphasis on habitual trust, and explores four different bases for habitual trust — community, rational organization, policy and systems of knowledge — discussing their importance for trust in food. In the second section, the author examines how these bases come together to produce trust in food in traditional, modern and late- or postmodern societies, respectively. Finally, Bildtgård argues that certification schemes can be perceived as a technique for producing trust in food that is particularly well suited to late-modern/postmodern societies.

Dans cet article, l'auteur se demande en quoi les théories sociales courantes sur la confiance peuvent nous aider à comprendre comment se construit et se maintient la confiance en l'alimentation dans les sociétés modernes, modernes avancées et post-modernes. Dans la première partie, l'auteur passe en revue et évalue trois bases théoriques de la confiance en ce que l'on mange, à savoir, la confiance émotionnelle, la confiance par habitude et la confiance réflexive. L'auteur met tout particulièrement l'accent sur la confiance par habitude en en explorant quatre fondements différents —- la communauté, l'organisation rationnelle, la politique et les systèmes de connaissance —- et en en discutant l'importance pour la confiance en l'alimentation. Dans la seconde partie, l'auteur étudie comment ces quatre fondements créent ensemble les conditions de la confiance en l'alimentation dans les sociétés traditionnelles, modernes avancées et post-modernes, respectivement. Finalement, Biltgård démontre que les systèmes de certification peuvent être perçus comme une technique particulièrement adaptée aux sociétés modernes avancées et post-modernes, propre à produire de la confiance en ce que l'on mange.

Keywords

Key words. Certification schemes Food Modernity Sociology Trust

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