Intersectional research stories of responsibilising the family for food, feeding and health in the twenty-first century

Abstract

PurposeLiterature from across the social sciences and research evidence are used to highlight interdisciplinary and intersectional research approaches to food and family. Responsibilisation emerges as an important thematic thread, as family has (compared with the state and corporations) been increasingly made responsible for its members’ health and diet.Design/methodology/approachThree questions are addressed: first, to what extent food is fundamentally social, and integral to family identity, as reflected in the sociology of food; second, how debates about families and food are embedded in global, political and market systems; and third, how food work and caring became constructed as gendered.FindingsInterest in food can be traced back to early explorations of class, political economy, the development of commodity culture and gender relations. Research across the social sciences and humanities draws on concepts that are implicitly sociological. Food production, mortality and dietary patterns are inextricably linked to the economic/social organisation of capitalist societies, including its gender-based divisions of domestic labour. DeVault’s (1991) groundbreaking work reveals the physical and emotional work of providing/feeding families, and highlights both its class and gendered dimensions. Family mealtime practices have come to play a key role in the emotional reinforcement of the idea of the nuclear family.Originality/valueThis study highlights the imperative to take pluri-disciplinary and intersectional approaches to researching food and family. In addition, this paper emphasises that feeding the family is an inherently political, moral, ethical, social and emotional process, frequently associated with gendered constructions.

Motherhood and consumption: A systematic review and directions for future research

“…Finally, the methodology used for the systematic review and the proposed framework are intended to benefit future research endeavors that extend beyond motherhood and consumption. Among the most productive authors on the subject, Hogg (Banister et al, 2010(Banister et al, , 2016Curasi et al, 2004;Davis et al, 2018Davis et al, , 2022Gentina et al, 2017), emeritus professor at the University of Lancaster, stands out not only for the number of articles published (6) but also for the permanence of her interest in motherhood and consumption over almost two decades. Her first article, catalogued in WOS, dates from 2004, while the last one is from 2022.…”

Relational dialectics: researching change in intercultural families

“…Practices around food, therefore, play an important role in constituting and affirming the intercultural relationship, supporting Davis et al (2018) contention that any consideration of family and food needs to consider the social, cultural, economic and political context of family food choice. Marshall et al (2016) (p. 5) note that meals such as all practices, are dynamic and change over time.…”

‘I’d never cook it now’: an exploration of intergenerational transference and its role in facilitating family food sustainability

“…Consumer socialisation within households may stem from maternal influences or others, such as fathers, husbands (Davis et al , 2018b; Kharuhayothin and Kerrane, 2018; Valentine, 1999) and grandparents (Jingxiong et al , 2007). Children are recognised changemakers within families during reverse socialisation (Ekström, 2007), with siblings also acting as agents of consumer socialisation in the dynamics of the family network (Kerrane et al , 2015).…”