The Routledge International Handbook of the Sociologies of Food and Drink

This handbook presents a novel approach to updated, authoritative accounts of research on the sociologies of food and drink. Foregrounding the discipline of sociology in its various forms, it presents a range of theoretical approaches – including theories of practice, figurational sociology, symbolic interactionism, Conversation Analysis as well as inspiration derived from Science and Technology Studies. It emphasises the improved analyses that properly theorised and identifiably sociological perspectives can contribute to our understanding of activities associated with food and drink and their socio-cultural contexts. The book opens with a chapter which both introduces newcomers to the scope of the field and establishes the rationale for the book’s focus. The subsequent chapters provide comprehensive expositions of major contributions, intellectual turning points, and ruptures or disciplinary breakthroughs as well as emerging directions for future study. Thus, The Routledge International Handbook of the Sociologies of Food and Drink provides an essential overview of a variety of established theoretical approaches as well as more recent conceptual developments. It will appeal to scholars, researchers, and students of sociology with interests in culture, consumption, and social theory, as well as food and drink.