Roberta Sassatelli | Università di Bologna (original) (raw)

Articles by Roberta Sassatelli

STUDI CULTURALI, 2022

The paper discusses the links between cultural studies and sociology, and considers the relevance... more The paper discusses the links between cultural studies and sociology, and considers the relevance of the study of consumption through the intellectual experience of the author.

RELACES, 2022

http://www.relaces.com.ar/index.php/relaces/article/view/501/457

Consumption and Society, 2022

Consumption and Society editors Stefan Wahlen and Dan Welch sat down with Prof. Roberta Sassatell... more Consumption and Society editors Stefan Wahlen and Dan Welch sat down with Prof. Roberta Sassatelli to discuss consumer culture, the politics of consumption, authenticity, the sharing economy, food and the body, and the future of consumption studies.

Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia , 2019

Discussion of Warde's Book "Consumption", stressing the need to consider normative notions of con... more Discussion of Warde's Book "Consumption", stressing the need to consider normative notions of consumption and the consumer to complement theory of practice

Considering my intellectual biography, I Investigate the relationship between Sociology and Cultu... more Considering my intellectual biography, I Investigate the relationship between Sociology and Cultural Studies

Roundtable with and on Deborath Lupton's The Quantified Self, discussing the diffusion of persona... more Roundtable with and on Deborath Lupton's The Quantified Self, discussing the diffusion of personal Apps for Mhealth and the rationalization of self in the context of consumer culture

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 2016

This paper describes and reflects on a teaching experience developed as a complimentary workshops... more This paper describes and reflects on a teaching experience developed as a complimentary workshops to MA class on history, theory and politics of consumption. We used Wikipedia as a tool to consider the circuit of knowledge production in the Web 2.0 era, where consumers are no longer passive audiences but producers and consumers at the same time. We developed a collaborative team-work workshop aimed at the production of Wikipedia entries on topics related to the class content. In this note we describe the structure of such “Wikiworkshops”, our teaching strategy on sources management, teamwork and group teaching, and elaborate on students' reception of the workshop. Wikiworkshops proved to be an effective exercise in a collaborative economy of knowledge, and an opportunity for young sociologists to be part of it, expressing their creativity as well as becoming aware of the boundaries and limits inherent in the mechanism.

Questo lavoro introduce la sociologia dei consumi, e mettendo al lavoro triangolando le teorie si... more Questo lavoro introduce la sociologia dei consumi, e mettendo al lavoro triangolando le teorie simmeliane e foucaultiane sulla modernità e il soggetto con l'approccio garfinkeliano all'accountability del taken-for-granted individua nel consumo uno spazio liminoide di creatività dove viene messa in questione l'autenticità del soggetto attraverso l'articolazione pratica della scelta e la costruzione di stili di vita possano essere giustificati come espressione di una identità di fondo soggettiva. I lavori di Campbell, McCraken, Miller, Willis e Featherstone vengono riletti in questa chiave per offire un approccio che tenga conto dell'ambivalenza del consumo come pratica allo stesso tempo riflessiva e incorporata.

Sociologia Ruralis, 2015

The article considers sustainable consumption and alternative food networks in thecontext of glob... more The article considers sustainable consumption and alternative food networks in thecontext of global consumer capitalism as a locus where a new form of consumer sover-eignty can be developed. It offers a theoretical overview aimed at charting the emergenceand consolidation of a relational, responsible vision of consumer sovereignty. Potentiallyalternative to neo-classical and neoliberal views, such a vision of consumers and theirpower involves both sustainability, equality and democracy, and private happiness, con-ceived as a form of responsibility for personal, creative well-being and fulﬁllment asopposed to acquisition and spending power. Ultimately the article offers a reappraisal of the economistic notion of utility of goods, and proposes a way forward for alternativeways of consuming and of thinking of consumption which aim at avoiding the merereproduction of charity and at involving individuals’ subjectivity working on their capa-cities to develop new pleasures in sustainable lifestyles.

La crisi economica è ormai una preoccupazione quotidiana con cui un po’ tutti gli strati sociali,... more La crisi economica è ormai una preoccupazione quotidiana con cui un po’ tutti gli strati sociali, ma soprattutto
i gruppi che si trovano nel mezzo della stratificazione, si trovano a dover fare i conti, spesso senza più vergognarsi di ammetterne dubbi e preoccupazioni, e anzi manifestando apertamente la propria incessante ricerca di porre rimedio alle difficoltà, di ridimensionarle con uno sguardo alla generazioni future. In questo articolo riprendo i dati emersi da una vasta ricerca empirica su consumi e
ceto medio che ha visto coinvolte oltre centocinquanta famiglie italiane provenienti da varie frazioni
delle classi medie. In particolare considero alcuni dei modi in cui, lavorando sui propri desideri, gusti e consumi, gli italiani che stanno nel mezzo della stratificazione sociale affrontano i mutamenti indotti dalla crisi economica e provano
a ricostruire un’immagine del proprio futuro.
Sassatelli, R. (2015) “Il ceto medio sotto pressione. Come cambiano i consumi”, Il mulino, LXIV, 3, pp. 452-61.

This article addresses the aestheticization of traditional foods and the use of territori-alizati... more This article addresses the aestheticization of traditional foods and the use of territori-alization as a brand value for the promotion of products and services. Economy of quality is studied through a focus on the role that political institutions may have in promoting quality chains. Through document analysis, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups, we consider the case of the quality brand, DegustiBo, promoted by the Province of Bologna, Italy. This initiative was developed to help local shops and restaurants find a source of common identity in the local territory. We consider actors' narratives in defining, judging, and creating quality as related to the specific branding initiative, focusing on the way different descriptions of quality as related to ways of enacting territory are read and presented as performing authenticity. We explore how branding has been supported, realized, and responded to, concentrating on the encounter between consumers and producers. A focus on producers' perceptions of consumer competence helps addressing the narrative asymmetry between consumers and producers , and the ways in which consumer rituals work as sites of knowledge transmission and conflict, defining the contours of an arena for the performance of concerted and contested notions such as traditional, local, and authentic food.

Modern Italy, 2015

As urbanisation has come to characterise contemporary societies, large cities have become quite a... more As urbanisation has come to characterise contemporary societies, large cities have become quite ambivalent places for the human species: they are removing the human body from its perceived natural condition, while increasingly attempting to provide a cure for the ills of a sedentary life. Fitness gyms are presented as the 'natural' solution to our 'unnatural' lifestyle as urban dwellers and as a therapeutic fix to the ills of metropolitan living. This paper deploys a mix of qualitative methods (ethnographic observation, interviews and discourse analysis) to explore fitness culture as an urban phenomenon. Using data from Italy and the UK, it develops a micro-sociology of the spatiality of the gym that helps to approach this institution from within, deconstructing those claims which contribute to its cultural location as a key ingredient in contemporary urban lifestyles. The paper first looks at how fitness culture is negotiated through the marshalling of structured variety within the spatiality and temporality of gyms. It then explores the specificity of fitness as urban, instrumental leisure as compared with other forms of active recreation or sports available in urban contexts. It finally considers, on the one hand, the way in which fitness activities are continuously renovated, drawing on the fields of both sport and popular culture and, on the other, the kind of subjectivity and embodiment that fitness culture normatively sustains.

This paper triangulates the work of Bourdieu, Goffman and Foucault to provide an empirically grou... more This paper triangulates the work of Bourdieu, Goffman and Foucault to provide an empirically grounded analysis of processes of embodiment. It discusses and elaborates the notions of habitus, interaction and discipline as mechanisms for the substantiation of embodied identities. Reference is made to the field of sport and leisure participation, with particular attention to the case of fitness training.

This paper addresses two important themes in the contemporary sociology of consumption: the role ... more This paper addresses two important themes in the contemporary sociology of
consumption: the role of the home as key place in the constitution of meaningful
spaces of consumption and the role of consumer rituals in the stabilization of social
identities and relationship. It does so, by looking at how middle-class families manage
hospitality (and in particular party-giving) and how this informs both their construction
of the home spatiality and their wider food consumption behavior. Hospitality
and dinner parties are a fundamental elements of indoor sociability through food
consumption in contemporary societies. Deploying an ethnographic strategy we look
at how Italian middle-class families present their dinner party choices in terms of
form (spatiality, dinner table, manners) and content (ingredients, recipes). We then
consider how their dinner party narratives relate to the management of a particular
sociability code, which in turn is related to the performance of a particular family
social identity and reinforces a particular family social positioning. The paper then
unfolds by considering how gender identities within the family are played out in such
configuration, contributing to its consolidation and/or introducing ambivalence and
conflict.

Rassegna italiana di Sociologia, 2004

This paper reviews and introduces the sociology of food, looking at the main strands of research ... more This paper reviews and introduces the sociology of food, looking at the main strands of research which have been developing in the field.

O consumo de alimentos é um aspecto importante, ainda que pouco lembrado, da consideração sobre a... more O consumo de alimentos é um aspecto importante, ainda que pouco lembrado, da consideração sobre a moral política da cultura e das práticas de consumo contemporâneos. De mais de uma forma, alimentos são de fato cruciais para a maneira como negociamos o consumo como um conjunto específico e significativo de atividades. Tal fato se deve tanto à posição ocupada pelos alimentos em todas as sociedades conhecidas – o papel deles nas diferentes formas de coabitação, por exemplo –, quanto por seus atributos especiais nas sociedades contemporâneas. O consumo de alimentos é hoje um campo bastante dinâmico, com mudanças e inovações que estão, até certo ponto, comprometendo seu funcionamento enquanto um caminho tomado por certo para o senso de identidade e pertencimento das pessoas. Em termos gerais, trata-se de um campo que já está embutido de moral, mas que também constitui espaço para a tradução prática de visões morais e políticas. De fato, ao observarmos as formas como a cultura do consumo vem sendo criticada na sociedade contemporânea, percebemos que o consumo de alimentos é uma maneira pela qual as pessoas começam a imaginar um mundo diferente.

J Consum Cult, 2010

A growing field of research is documenting the political investment of the consumer. Yet, consume... more A growing field of research is documenting the political investment of the consumer. Yet, consumers are invested of political responsibilities in many different ways, which respond to different visions of politics and consumption, culture and the economy. In this article we critically explore the particular stance of an increasingly international actor such as Slow Food, placing it in the context

European Societies 3(2): 213- 44., 2001

The public debate around food confidence stimulated by food scares, the opening up of wider food ... more The public debate around food confidence stimulated by food scares, the opening up of wider food markets and the introduction of GM foods provides an opportunity to analyse citizens’ identification with their community sociologically, as it is reproduced through mundane practices. In order to do so, this article examines the GM food debate in Italy and the implications for food and agricultural policy of Austria’s entry into the EU. Britain, with its highly industrialized agriculture and political commitment to open markets and new technologies, acts as a bench-mark. We distinguish between disembedded and embedded trust regimes; the former being predominant in freer markets and the latter a resource which can be mobilized in cases where remnants of ‘traditional’ agricultural production and supply can still be found (Italy and Austria). The increasing emphasis upon the regional origin of food, its traceability and organic production by key actors – the state, consumers’ movements, retailers and marketing boards – we interpret as a confidence-building strategy which attempts to address deficits in disembedded trust resulting from widening chains of interdependency, crises such as BSE and the introduction of unfamiliar new technologies.

Studi Culturali, 2011

This article instroduces visual studies, focussing on the notion of visuality and visual culture,... more This article instroduces visual studies, focussing on the notion of visuality and visual culture, selectively reviewing some of the most relevant trends in this cross-disciplinary field.In mondi sociali sempre più carichi di rappresentazioni visive, in culture sempre
più strutturate da tecnologie della visione in continuo mutamento, anche le scienze
sociali ed umane stanno acquisendo una propria sensibilità visuale tentando di
correggere quella predilezione per modelli euristici di derivazione linguistica che
le ha a lungo caratterizzate. Da alcuni decenni, la sociologia, la semiotica, la geografia,
la storia e l’antropologia hanno affiancato gli studi culturali cominciando a
riflettere sul ruolo dell’immagine, assumendo le immagini come oggetto di ricerca
o come indicatore per l’analisi di fenomeni culturali complessi. L’aspirazione è
sempre più quella di considerare le immagini – disegni, mappe, elementi decorativi
ma anche e soprattutto foto – come qualcosa di più che attraenti illustrazioni
esemplificatorie o elementi decorativi per arricchire un testo. Certo possiamo
rinvenire illustri precedenti a questa svolta visuale – basti pensare, per riprendere
due contributi classici già apparsi in «Studi Culturali», al ruolo che W.E.B. Du Bois
(1900) riservò alla fotografia per studiare e al contempo promuovere l’identità
afroamericana, o alla celebre analisi dei genderismi condotta da Goffman (1977)
a partire dalle fotografie pubblicitarie (si veda anche Sassatelli 2010 e 2004).
Tuttavia, oggi si avverte più forte l’urgenza di far fronte ad un fenomeno, quello
dalla cultura visiva, che appare sempre più centrale.

STUDI CULTURALI, 2022

RELACES, 2022

http://www.relaces.com.ar/index.php/relaces/article/view/501/457

Consumption and Society, 2022

Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia , 2019

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 2016

Sociologia Ruralis, 2015

Modern Italy, 2015

Rassegna italiana di Sociologia, 2004

J Consum Cult, 2010

European Societies 3(2): 213- 44., 2001

Studi Culturali, 2011

Corpo, Genere e Società, 2018

This book introduces the sociology of the body taking a gendered perspective. It surveys classica... more This book introduces the sociology of the body taking a gendered perspective. It surveys classical and contemporary literature, with particular attention to gender, sex and sexuality. The introduction offers an entry into the adopted constructivist, materialist and critical outlook of the book and briefly summarizes the content of the book

Italians and Food, 2019

Food is perceived as probably the most distinctive aspect of Italian identity both in Italy and a... more Food is perceived as probably the most distinctive aspect of Italian identity both in Italy and abroad. Food culture is central both to the way Italians mark their national identity and to the consolidation of Italianicity in a global context. However, gastronomic identity, just like other aspects of identity, is a continuous construction that consolidates through practice across history and geography rather than an essence to be discovered in a purified moment of origin, a well-delimited site, a single product or recipe. Creolization and hybridization are indeed a feature of any cuisine. This is particularly the case for Italian cuisine, exposed as it has been to a variety of influences throughout its history. This introduction illustrate the rationale for putting toghether a collection on Italians and food and sets the major coordinates for the study of italianicity at the table.

Per chiunque si occupi di economia e mobilità sociale, consumi e cultura, stili di vita e gusti, ... more Per chiunque si occupi di economia e mobilità sociale, consumi e cultura, stili di vita e gusti, l’osservazione dei comportamenti del ceto medio è la chiave per comprendere appieno l’impatto della crisi. Sulla scorta di un’ampia e articolata ricerca condotta tra le famiglie italiane, questo volume mette sotto la lente d’ingrandimento le scelte di consumo, in riferimento a tre ambiti specifici: la casa, l’alimentazione e i consumi culturali. Sono così illustrate le odierne strategie di distinzione e appartenenza sociale e la loro complessa negoziazione attraverso rinunce e concessioni, resistenza e innovazione.

R. Sassatelli (2007) Consumer Culture. History, Theory and Politics, Sage, London. The book is or... more R. Sassatelli (2007) Consumer Culture. History, Theory and Politics, Sage, London.
The book is organized to offer an historically-grounded and theoretically-informed discussion of contemporary consumer culture as well as a critical understanding of its diversity, reach and ambivalence. Throughout the book a variety of empirical examples illustrate the rich texture of consumer culture(s). The ambivalence of consumption is shown by looking at the various ways in which it can be conceived as an ordinary and yet socially regulated practice of appropriation: people typically remove commodities from their commercial codes and contexts, but do so by negotiating with routines and meanings which are otherwise deemed culturally appropriate, reasonable, fair and even “normal”. The book chapters are thus divided into three parts organized around three main dichotomies: production/consumption; rationality/irrationality; freedom/oppression. Both in lay and social scientific discourse, these dichotomies have been applied to understand contemporary consumer culture. Reference to them thus helps discussing its history, theory and politics, even though much of the book is concerned with showing that consumption challenges them and involves other, more complex patterns of relation. The first part on history maps the multifarious, spatially and temporally articulated historical development of (Western) consumer culture, thus providing a cultural reading of the vast socio-economic and geo-political transformations this has entailed. The second part on theory critically discusses the main theoretical approaches which have tried to model consumer agency from neo-classical economics to sociological classics, from critical theory to communication approaches, up to the recent emphasis on theories of practice and ritual de-commoditization. The third part on politics considers the political dimension of consumer culture, looking at the issue of representation and intermediation and in particular the role of advertising, at de-commoditization as a contested terrain where social actors negotiate hegemonic views of identity and choice, and finally the issues of globalization, localization and alternative consumption. While one part naturally leads into the following, each of them can be read separately. The text closes with a brief conclusion both helps drawing its overarching theses and threads together and offers some analytical tools for further investigation. Finally, at the very end of the book, the reader will find some selected suggestions for further reading. Their purpose is twofold: to mark out key studies related to the arguments proposed, and to point to auxiliary resources to orientate research and writing in the field of consumption.

Largely organized via commercial relations of some kind, gyms are key sites for studying consumer... more Largely organized via commercial relations of some kind, gyms are key sites for studying consumer culture and practices as well as subjectivity in contemporary societies. Gym-goers are typically addressed as individuals who take control of both the market and themselves. Through a variety of
qualitative sources – ethnographies, interviews and discourse analysis – this book explores how consumers and producers collaborate in the production of the
fitness scene. It examines how individuals become fitness participants, at locally sustained relationships, the framing of discipline as fun, the meanings attached to the idea of fitness and the negotiation of broader body ideals, to provide a critical discussion of fitness as lived consumer culture. Choice is revealed as a process, rather than a cost-benefit decision; a
transformative, ongoing practice rather than an accomplished, rational calculation. Consumption is revealed as an ambivalent practice, with consumers increasingly asked to be active producers of cultural forms that are nevertheless largely circulated and managed by producers who need to consume much of the very same sort they produce. PAPERBACK EDITION, 2014, WITH NEW FOREWORD

Roberta Sassatelli (2012) Consumo, Cultura y Sociedad, Amorrortu, Buenos Aires. Muchas veces se h... more Roberta Sassatelli (2012) Consumo, Cultura y Sociedad, Amorrortu, Buenos Aires. Muchas veces se ha afirmado, en tono de denuncia, que la nuestra es una sociedad signada por el consumo. Con este rótulo, surgido en la segunda posguerra y llevado a la notoriedad por autores como Marcuse, Galbraith, Packard y Baudrillard, se ha querido destacar el hecho de que la sociedad en que vivimos se connota como una particular variante del capitalismo, caracterizada precisamente por la primacía del consumo. Pero, en realidad, tras su aparente simplicidad, la expresión «sociedad de consumo» es profundamente ambigua. La autora ilustra la génesis histórica de la cultura de consumo contemporánea, las principales teorías que han tratado de explicar los comportamientos de los consumidores, las relaciones de poder que implican las prácticas de uso y consumo de bienes. Al esclarecimiento teórico se agregan numerosos ejemplos referidos a las modas juveniles y al consumo caracterizado en función del género, a la cocina étnica, a la televisión y a las opciones para el tiempo libre, a los gastos en sanidad y a los boicots contra las multinacionales. De estas exploraciones surgen los mecanismos mediante los cuales la cultura de consumo producto de vastos fenómenos, como la globalización de los intercambios, el desarrollo de importantes cadenas de distribución, la difusión de mensajes comerciales cada vez más sofisticados es luego «negociada» en la cotidianidad de los sujetos comprometidos en construir una identidad propia y un estilo de vida entre la necesidad, la alienación y el placer.

An edited collection of papers about the politics of consumption and critical consumerism. Chapte... more An edited collection of papers about the politics of consumption and critical consumerism. Chapter by R. Sassatelli on Democrary, Critical Consumerism, Global Justice and Consumer Movements R. Sassatelli, 2008 "Consumi e democrazia", in le nuove frontiere dei consumi, Ombre Corte, Verona, pp.59-72.

Introduced by an extended essay which positions the work of W. Sombart, the genesis of capitalism... more Introduced by an extended essay which positions the work of W. Sombart, the genesis of capitalism and luxury in the wider literature on the development of consumer capitalism, the book is the abridged translation of one of most relevant classics in economic sociology. Sassatelli discusses the essay in relation to contemporary history and theories of consumer culture, highlighing the importance of Sombart's emphasis on colonies, gender balance, affects and cultural consumption.

Translation of H. Garfinkel's "Passing and the managed achievement of an intersexual identity", ... more Translation of H. Garfinkel's "Passing and the managed achievement of an intersexual identity", chap. 5 of Studies in Ethnomethodology

The Well Fair, Feb 2016

The cultures that consumers construct with objects they acquire on the market are central to late... more The cultures that consumers construct with objects they acquire on the market are central to late modern life across the globe. This is coupled with what goes under the label of the aestheticization of everyday life, which has become itself a shortcut for contemporary culture, especially as it unfolds through increasingly iconic and narratively elaborated commercial culture. While classic aesthetic discourse places aesthetics as the appreciation of beauty out of ordinary experiences, commercial culture has flourished on the aestheticization of everyday life, of ordinary objects and daily experiences. We consider how production and consumption are getting increasingly articulated through markets, commercialization, fairs and festivals, and refer quite poignantly to the way art festivals – literature, music, film, visual arts – are becoming relevant as a meeting point and a melting pot for both producers and consumers, creators and publics. These institutions and occasions have something quite important in common: they rest on eventization, placing value on the uniqueness of the experience of the specific occasion and on its configuration as a creative space c generating value.

Sociology has questioned the epistemological status of the scientific study of the body, so openi... more Sociology has questioned the epistemological status of the scientific study of the body, so opening up the space for exploring the political implications of bodily representations and practices. Although the body–power relation was marginal until the work of Foucault and feminist theorists, classical social theory also contributed to its emergence as a problem. In Marx's writings on labour as a corporeal process and those of Weber on discipline, the body is seen as transformed into an instrument. In other social theory, however, such as Elias's work on body rationalization, Goffman's understanding of the symbolic functions of bodily comportment and Bourdieu's theory of embodiment and mimesis, the body is also the paramount symbol of the subject's self-possession and degree of civilization. Much of Foucault's work is concerned with modern operations of power in which body and knowledge are central, including discipline, surveillance, medicalization and confession. Under the influence of the poststructuralist turn influenced by Foucault, feminism has confronted the body more directly than it did previously. For poststructuralist feminists, gender is not the cultural representation of biological sex, but rather the process that produces the possibility of two distinct sexes. The postmodern 'plasticity' of sex, crucially articulated in the work of Judith Butler, is also taken up in studies of technology, notably that of Donna Haraway in her discussion of 'cyborgs'. In general there has been a trend away from considering the body as a by-product of domination, towards seeing it as the focal point of conflicts over power.

This paper explores the cultural location of fitness training. It locates fitness training as a p... more This paper explores the cultural location of fitness training. It locates fitness training as a particular style or frame of activity intersecting the fields of leisure, sport and body transformation. It shows that non-competitive, recreational physical activities may indeed be as imbued with ideological values as competitive sports, and that the instrumentalization of pleasure is a powerful element of contemporary commercial leisure culture. However, it also goes further to consider how “fun”, which is organized as a relevant experience of fitness training, is related to a particular image of self which stresses autonomy, flexibility and “positive thinking” as key elements of wellbeing.

Routledge Handbook of Identity Studies, 2012

This chapter looks at the cultural representation of consumption and the consumer. First, it cons... more This chapter looks at the cultural representation of consumption and the consumer. First, it considers the opposing discourses, both pro-consumerist and anti-consumerist, which have usually been deployed to portray consumption. Secondly, it looks at the swing of the pendulum between pro- and anti- consumerism, concluding that it has a generative role within contemporary culture. In particular, commercial advertising today appears to accommodate a plurality of images of what consumption is and does to people and the world. The new spirit of capitalism is increasingly attuned to a cultural critique of consumerism, and commercial images come to reflect the contested nature of commercialization. Thirdly, this chapter concentrates on the critical framing of the consumer, as this is promoted by phenomena as diverse as Fair Trade, counter-advertising, alternative food networks, and so on. These appear to embrace new visions of the consumer that may represent a challenge to more established notions of market choice, and signal that the symbolic boundaries that have come to define the consumer as a specific economic identity who lives in a private world removed from production and public concerns are being destabilised. Overall, the chapter aims to discuss both how the consumer is a key social persona for contemporary culture and how there are many different visions of what the consumer is and ought to be. It aims to problematise Baudrillard’s view that ‘counter-discourse’ does not afford ‘any real distance’ from (a single vision of) consumer society. While there may be no escape from market society and consumer choice, choices can be constructed and practiced in quite a variety of ways, some of which seem to internalise values other than money and quantity and consider the common good, gift relations, and civic engagement as irreducible elements of consumers’ gratification.

Culture of the Slow (Osbaldiston, N. ed) 2013, 2013

This paper starts by a reappraisal of the work of heterodox economist Tibor Scitovsky. Scitovsky ... more This paper starts by a reappraisal of the work of heterodox economist Tibor Scitovsky. Scitovsky considers that the economy has been organized as to boost a tradeoff between comfort (i.e. goods that save time, effort and skill) and pleasure (i.e. goods that promote creativity, require time and enrich one’s own faculties). He
also envisages a possible conflict between standardized goods which provide novelty by obsolescence and individualized pleasure which may grow slowly as consumption competences develop in a free, non- commercialized fashion. Finally he posits an insidious gap between generalized knowledge which is needed for everyday consumption and specialized skills which are required in the work environment. Ultimately I critically draw on Scitovsky’s discussion and explores the dualities of comfort versus pleasure, standardization versus individualization, generalized versus specialized knowledge to develop a critical position in favour of slowness and embeddedness within the current debates about alternative ways of consuming.

Through empirical cases and theoretical discussion, this article proposes the notion of "tamed he... more Through empirical cases and theoretical discussion, this article proposes the notion of "tamed hedonism" to capture the hegemonic moral narrative of consumer capitalism in contemporary society, and in particular the flexible but essential compromises between hedonism and asceticism that consumers are required to manage.This notion develops on the consideration that individual autonomous choice has a central place in consumer modernity. This point to a continuity between early and late modernity. We know that with Adam Smith, not only political order, but also personal order became possible through consumption. This happened not just because individuals’ desires for pleasure and acquisition were deemed to be socially positive, but also because the subject of desires became a rational actor. Modeled onto production, consumption was tamed into a rational, self-interested, long-term pursuit of personal gratification. Smith portrayed the marketplace as an institution where subjects develop the capacity to reflect upon themselves as social actors, to excel by the pursuit of a decent, commodious and well-ordered life. Merchants – as we all become under market conditions – are not pictured as ascetic monks, they do not disdain the decencies of life, they are indeed good, well-behaved, rational consumers as opposed to the immoral, irrational, whimsical wasters impersonated by the old, declining nobility. Under these conditions, the consumer-merchant becomes the foundation of a new social and political order: the sovereign whose desires the market shall respond to and the sovereign of his own desires (see also Sassatelli 2001).

Roberta Sassatelli (2011) Commercial Reflexivity, in L. Avellini et als. (eds) ,Prospettive degli Studi Culturali, I libri di Emil, Bologna, 2011, pp.229-47., Sep 2011

When it comes to advertising, commercial or promotional culture, feminists and critical theorists... more When it comes to advertising, commercial or promotional culture, feminists and critical theorists alike have, by and large, played a similar tune . This might be aptly summarized by the idea that advertising is the antithesis and the enemy of culture: within late capitalist societies dominated by market exchanges and promotional ideologies, consumer culture is often equated with either consumerism or commercial culture. In this perspective, «individual choice and desire triumph over abiding social values and obligations; the whims of the present take precedence over the truth embodied in history, tradition and continuity; needs, values and goods are manufactured and calculated in relation to profit rather than arising from authentic individual or communal life» (Slater 1997: 63).

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2012

Nash/Blackwell, 2004

Sociology has questioned the epistemological status of the scientific study of the body, so openi... more Sociology has questioned the epistemological status of the scientific study of the body, so opening up the space for exploring the political implications of bodily representations and practices. Although the body-power relation was marginal until the work of Foucault and feminist theorists, classical social theory also contributed to its emergence as a problem. In Marx's writings on labour as a corporeal process and those of Weber on discipline, the body is seen as transformed into an instrument. In other social theory, however, such as Elias's work on body rationalization, Goffman's understanding of the symbolic functions of bodily comportment and Bourdieu's theory of embodiment and mimesis, the body is also the paramount symbol of the subject's self-possession and degree of civilization. Much of Foucault's work is concerned with modern operations of power in which body and knowledge are central, including discipline, surveillance, medicalization and confession. Under the influence of the poststructuralist turn influenced by Foucault, feminism has confronted the body more directly than it did previously. For poststructuralist feminists, gender is not the cultural representation of biological sex, but rather the process that produces the possibility of two distinct sexes. The postmodern 'plasticity' of sex, crucially articulated in the work of Judith Butler, is also taken up in studies of technology, notably that of Donna Haraway in her discussion of 'cyborgs'. In general there has been a trend away from considering the body as a by-product of domination, towards seeing it as the focal point of conflicts over power.

The study of food has seldom been more pressing or prescient. From the intensifying globalization... more The study of food has seldom been more pressing or prescient. From the intensifying globalization of food, a world-wide food crisis and the continuing inequalities of its production and consumption, to food's exploding media presence, and its growing re-connections to places and people through 'alternative food movements', this series promotes critical explorations of contemporary food cultures and politics. Building on previous but disparate scholarship, its overall aims are to develop innovative and theoretical lenses and empirical material in order to contribute to -but also begin to more fully delineate -the confines and confluences of an agenda of critical food research and writing.

Le differenze di genere hanno importanti effetti sulle nostre preferenze di consumo e sulla cult... more Le differenze di genere hanno importanti effetti sulle nostre preferenze di consumo e sulla cultura materiale. Non solo uomini e donne consumano cose diverse in modo diverso, ma esistono anche oggetti “maschili” e oggetti “femminili”, merci e pratiche di consumo capaci di conferire elementi di maschilità o femminilità, pur nella varietà di queste codificazioni. E’ questa circolarità – che vede genere e consumo come due pratiche storicamente e istituzionalmente situate che si costituiscono vicendevolmente – ad essere divenuta un importante oggetto di ricerca storica e sociologica. Come vedremo in questo capitolo, essa va configurandosi sia come un aspetto cruciale della cultura di consumo contemporanea sia come una sua importante dinamica generativa.

In this chapter I look at how Denim Jean are deployed for ordinary body sexualization. Despite th... more In this chapter I look at how Denim Jean are deployed for ordinary body sexualization. Despite their codiﬁcation as potentially sexy, jeans remain mundane, almost ubiquitous items, perceived as remarkably versatile for all practical purposes in ordinary life. They are subject to fashion dynamics, and indeed represent an important segment in the fashion industry. They thus provide an excel-lent spot for the exploration of sexualization as an ordinary practice that emerges from – and aside to – normal daily rounds, as much as it is performed in specialized places or choreographed in a myriad of glamorized symbolic forms. I ntroduce my discussion by initially considering how Denim’s relationship to fashion illu-minates its relation to embodied subjectivity and individuality more generally. Rather than developing a semiotic approach, considering how the fashion system plunders fetishism or sexual subcultures for inspiration, I explore how the expression of sexuality (attraction and gender) is mediated by a particular clothing, denim jeans, which enjoys a particular status within the actualization of fashion in everyday life. In other words, I start naturalistically from reported practices of meaningful ordinary use of an ordinary item such as jeans, interrogating the chains of meanings that link identity, embodiment and sexuality. The mediating role of denim is revealed as subjects perform what I deﬁne as ‘mirror work’ - or actually looking at oneself and working on one's own ensuing emotions - to negotiate their own body perception in relation to normative ideals of beauty and sexuality. Based on ethnographic interviews, I show that denim jeans afford a perception of ‘ﬁtness’ or appropriateness that articulates comfort with compliance as well as authenticity with adaptability. This dynamic is crucial to feeling sexy: something that is articulated via gendered notions of seduction.

This chapter critically examines the growing wealth of literature on the spread of social movemen... more This chapter critically examines the growing wealth of literature on the spread of social movements which question the limits of the market and the relationship between production and consumption. Critical or alternative consumption address globalization as de-territorialization, the disarticulation of production and consumption, and the separation of politics and the market. This opens the question whether awareness of systemic, unintended effects may translate consumption into a genuine politics of justice.

This chapter considers the work of Gary Alan Fine, probably the most prolific contemporary cultur... more This chapter considers the work of Gary Alan Fine, probably the most prolific contemporary cultural ethnographer and one of the key contributors to the sociology of small groups. In the chapter, Fine’s intellectual journey is explored, from his earlier studies on the Baseball little league to his recent research on ‘futurework’ and the way forecast is culturally and organizationally structured. While Fine’s perspective is interdisciplinary, with anthropology (in particular the American tradition related to folklore and language studies), social psychology and sociology being the key elements, theoretically he has developed the symbolic interactionist tradition. He thus highlights the constructed nature of social worlds by emphasizing the set of meanings through which social actors define such worlds and their limits, and in particular he identifies the small group, and its internal verbal interaction, as the foundation of his approach. Our daily lives are conceived as archipelagos of small groups. As we travel by, we shape the map in which they are located and through which we recognize ourselves. Considering Fine’s whole career, the relationship between expressive culture (forms of talk and codes of feelings) and social structure may be said to be the main focus of his empirical and theoretical work. His approach remains evidently linked to interaction, from which he refrains to detach and to which he tries to bring back discourse, or indeed people’s accounts as expressed in the cultural whisperings that swells up into rumors and gossip. Fine is perhaps the most prolific and versatile ethnographer in contemporary sociology. And a sociologist focused on interaction – both as a methodological and as an ontological element – must start from being on the spot. Fine’s importance, lays on his ability of finding places where, by speaking of small fragments of reality, it becomes possible to speak of broad cultural borders – thus the culture of mushroom collectors enables us to focus on the border between culture and nature, while the work of weather forecasters brings us to think about the relationship between present and future. His originality is undoubtedly grounded in his ability to recognize the external reality of social structure as it is translated into specific cultural forms anchored to small group culture. The chapter closes with an overall appreciation of Fine’s contribution to the symbolic interactionist tradition, focusing in particular on his furthering of our understanding of the emotional and the cognitive aspects of interaction.

Blackwell Publishing Ltd eBooks, Mar 25, 2008

This program takes a provocative look at women's efforts to change societal attitudes about t... more This program takes a provocative look at women's efforts to change societal attitudes about the "ideal" female form. We move from the 19th century, when women were pressured into wearing corsets, to the 1990s, where they still feel pressure from society to "shape up." Anorexia is discussed as a condition arising from younger women's need to attain an impossible physical ideal. Women boxers, rock climbers, and runners are seen challenging old assumptions regarding the limited capabilities of women in sports. Propaganda from the 40s and 50s picturing the "ideal" female figure presents an interesting contrast to several contemporary women who are challenging the old attitudes. (47 minutes, color) (cc

Il capitolo riassume i principali legami e differenze tra le attivit\ue0 sportive e di fitness co... more Il capitolo riassume i principali legami e differenze tra le attivit\ue0 sportive e di fitness con un occhio di riguardo per l'esperienza femminile storicamente molto influenzata dalle attivit\ue0 ginniche non competitive

Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 2004

Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 2013

Ediciones Universidad de Navarra. EUNSA eBooks, 2018

Routledge eBooks, Jul 22, 2020

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Aug 1, 2016

Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture, May 20, 2014

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2013

The debate about consumption, and its organisation, including its spatiality and temporality, is ... more The debate about consumption, and its organisation, including its spatiality and temporality, is quite rich today in and beyond academic circles. Such debate is fuelled not only by polemical or celebratory writing but also by much, often good, empirical research which addresses some relevant theoretical issues (Lewis and Potter 2011). Still, on the whole, the debate about consumption remains rather fuzzy. This is partly due to the lack of a common understanding of what we mean by consumption and to the different emphasis given to its many semantic relatives. To summarise, for the majority of the social scientists working on consumption empirically, it is understood as the use and appropriation of commodities for the creation of meaningful worlds. With the notion of consumer society, instead, critical theorists have singled out particular aspects of contemporary culture which fall under the rubric of consumerism: possessive or acquisitive individualism, a market dominated by massification, the production of waste and commodity obsolescence, the increased dominance of promotional culture even in the public sphere, the dominance of commodity sign values, the commoditisation of the consumer and so on.

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Dec 13, 2018

Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture, May 20, 2014

XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018), Jul 19, 2018

Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 2004

... 1992; Poulain 2002). Nelle sue fila militano ricercatori che si trovano spesso a dialogare co... more ... 1992; Poulain 2002). Nelle sue fila militano ricercatori che si trovano spesso a dialogare con altre discipline in cui l'alimentazione è indubbiamente oggetto più centrale – dalla storia all'antropologia, dall'epidemiologia alla demografia, sino alla scienza della nutrizione. ...

Routledge eBooks, Apr 15, 2016

Routledge eBooks, Jul 3, 2019

Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture, May 20, 2014