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Pierre Bourdieu’s CAPITAL VOLUME

Bourdieu states that the social position of an individual is related to “capital volume”. A person’s capital volume is said to be represented through the possession of cultural and economic capitals, which refers to mainly education for the former, and income, ownership of material goods and property for the latter. People who are rich in terms of economic capital may tend to lean towards cuisine that has rare and expensive ingredients. Certain comestibles have an upper class status because they are consumed by society’s higher echelons. Bourdieu views the different taste distinctions of the lower and upper class as based on “tastes for necessity” and “tastes for freedom”, respectively. The latter refers to people who are more distanced from the idea of food always being a necessity, and view it as a taste for liberty or luxury. These would be people who are rich in terms of economic capital, or the upper class, since income logically plays a part in establishing the distance from the necessity of food. They are oriented to cuisine that uses rare and expensive products. Groups with more economic capital and rich in cultural capital tend to be more concerned with form than function of the food. Bourdieu refers to form as types of food that do not serve the original function of food, which is to eat in order not to be famished. He also continues with the idea that taste of food depends on the attitude that people in different social status possess about the body. His argument revolves around the notion that the most important factor that affects health behaviours is the cultural capital of a person, since the groups richest in cultural capital tend to have a direct link with physical culture. These people are consistently catering towards their body appearance and health as they value bodily fitness, slimness and dietary restraint. As a result, these people value foods that are healthy and not fattening or detrimental to the body. They treat their “body as a project”, whereas people who are poor in cultural capital treat their “body as a machine”. The social world is seen as a symbolic system to Bourdieu, where there are evident symbolic struggles for what kind of people should possess dominating positions in society. This struggle is defined by what is thought to be correct consuming and good taste (e.g. having legitimate practices, appearance and taste). People who are highly educated and are affluent in economic capital (those of dominant social positions) have tastes that are defined by a cultivated sense for distinction. In order to appear as part of the dominating class of society, people in lower social positions may mimic the lifestyles of the upper class, and as a result, the people of dominating social positions will begin to lose their interest in the foods that they have been consuming, as their tastes have been imitated by those lower in the social hierarchy and cannot be a manner of distinguishing the social class. As a result, the upper class may think of new foods to portray their social status.

CONSUMPTION AS BEING SYMBOLIC – in relation to Bourdieu’s theory

When geographers look at consumption, they study not only the things that people buy, but also everything else that people do with those things and the meanings or symbols that may be associated with the goods. Consumption is thus viewed as a process that is imbued with symbolic meaning through producers, as well as the consumers, not as a mere single act of purchase. The meanings that are associated with the consumption points at the fact that people’s consumption habits are a way of distinguishing themselves from others. The things that people buy allow them to portray who they are by displaying the characteristics to others around them. The meanings associated with the consumption of food are affected by the how and where the eating and buying take place. Bourdieu’s distinction theory applies to social settings such as a restaurant, and even within the restaurant, as certain comestibles and titles used to name the dishes reflect class. The menus are catered according to the general population of the guests that are assumed to come to the restaurant. Conscious marketing is evident in the menus as restaurants show through language and presentation. The language of a menu points at class as it manifests the restaurant’s overall quality and also the customers who are expected to dine there. Fine diners presuppose that their guests will be aware of the special terminology used or the special ingredients that distinguish the dishes from casual diners. The common indicators of a lower class menu are the price and lack of sophisticated language. Entrees do not have pretentious names as fine dining restaurants tend to, and the names of dishes are easy to identify. What people consume not only defines them as a person, but also determines what kind of society they live in as they define the social surroundings by their particular consumption. In addition, class positions are defined by what is consumed as much as through careers and jobs. Today, the new cultural class members are using exotic foods as a way of determining their status. They are distancing themselves from other social groups in order to portray a distinction of upper class and lower class. Evidently, food has become a means of social distinction.



Works Cited

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction. A Social Critique of Judgment of Taste. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Glennie, P. & Thrift, N. (1992). Modernity, urbanism and modern consumption. Environment and planning D: Society and Space, 423-443.

Jackson, P. (1993). Towards a cultural politics of consumption. Mapping the futures: Local cultures, global. London: Routledge, 207-229.

May, J. (1996). A little taste of something more exotic. Geography, 8, 57-64.

Øygard, L. (2000). Studying food tastes among young adults using Bourdieu’s theory. Journal of Consumer Studies & Home Economics, 24, 160-169. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2737.2000.00118.x