Sociologia Ruralis
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Eating ‘Green’: Motivations behind organic food consumption in Australia Central to the development of green lifestyles is the consumption of foods that by dint of their status as chemical–free, locally produced and/or free of genetically modified ingredients, reduce the environmental impact of food provision. Yet there are many other factors, such as health concerns, that may also encourage the consumption of ‘green’ foods. This paper explores the ways in which Australian consumers construct organic food — a sector of the food industry that is currently growing at between 20 and 50 percent per annum but is struggling to keep up with rising consumer demand. In order to examine the significance of ‘green’ signifiers in the consumption practices of Australian consumers a series of focus group interviews and a national consumer survey were conducted. These examined both those characteristics of food that were valued in general, and those meanings that were associated with organic food in particular. In very general terms, analysis reveals that while consumers believed organic foods to be healthy and environmentally sound — both of which were considered desirable — these characteristics were subsumed by an overarching concern with convenience. This does not mean that consumers did not hold genuinely positive environmental attitudes. Rather, it reflects a range of contradictory beliefs and practices that appeared to derive from the discursive conflict between conventional and organic food industries over environmental, health and safety claims. The paper concludes by identifying the barriers and opportunities for expanding the organic industry in Australia in the context of the ways organics is constructed by consumers.
Sociologia Ruralis - Tập 42 Số 1 - Trang 23-40 - 2002
The importance of ‘the rural’ in the constitution of counterurbanization: Evidence from England in the 1980s
Sociologia Ruralis - Tập 34 Số 2-3 - Trang 164-189 - 1994
Global Production and Flexible Employment in South African Horticulture: Experiences of Contract Workers in Fruit Exports The era of global flexibility has been described as one of generalised precariouness and vulnerability. Global integration is leading to changing patterns of employment, with declining permanent and increasingly insecure forms of work. This trend is typified in the South African export fruit sector. Reintegration into the global economy is leading to both the ‘modernisation’ and transformation of employment including the rapid rise of offfarm contract labour provided by third party agents. Within the South African fruit sector changes following global integration have been experienced through changes in the global value chain linking the sector to UK and European supermarkets, deregulation of domestic agriculture and export markets and the increase in state legislation affecting employment. These channels have all affected the linkages through which fruit producers access the global economy and are having significant implications for the employment strategies of producers. A dominant trend has been for producers to downsize their permanent on‐farm labour and increase the employment of various categories of flexible off‐farm labour – especially contract labour. This growing tendency towards the ‘externalisation’ of farm labour in South African fruit exports has raised new concerns regarding the vulnerability and poverty of farm workers as it means that a growing number of workers are being drawn into global production on the basis of low wages and insecure work outside the bounds of legislative protection. The paper explores the nature of contract employment and the implications of this type of employment for the lives of a group of workers drawn into its ambit. Using a qualitative methodology it examines the experiences of contract workers, not only of their work, but how their employment affects their ability to sustain family and community relations. Although the implications of global integration for contract workers are complex and mixed, our findings suggest an intensification of insecurity and vulnerability to poverty.
Sociologia Ruralis - Tập 44 Số 1 - Trang 17-39 - 2004
Women on South African Farms: Empowerment Across or Along Race and Class Divisions? This paper explores the role being played by two prominent women groupings in empowering farm women on South African fruit and wine farms. By focusing their efforts on farm wives and women farm workers, the Cape Women’s Forum has embarked on a process of empowering farm women across race and class divisions. This approach contrasts with that of the other group – the Women on Farms Project – in that the latter facilitates the empowerment of women farm workers only. The paper examines the activities of two groups, analyses the underlying assumptions regarding women’s shared interests guiding these divergent approaches from a feminist perspective, and identifies factors which could constrain women’s empowerment. Information on these groups was obtained by in‐depth interviews and analysis of written documents. It is suggested that liberal and socialist/Marxist feminist paradigms are particularly useful when interpreting the empowerment strategies employed by these two women’s groups. The paper concludes that, although these groups are making significant inroads into the empowerment of farm women, developments within the South African agricultural sector and the politics of international sponsorship may impede empowerment efforts in future.
Sociologia Ruralis - Tập 38 Số 3 - Trang 331-350 - 1998
Dealing with the loss of the village supermarket: The perceived effects two years after closure Abstract In 2015, the local supermarket of the depopulating village of Ulrum closed its doors. After a first survey around the closure, a second survey was conducted two years later, to investigate changes in the different meanings of the local supermarket and the perceived effects of its closure over time. The results show that respondents state that the liveability and status of the village have decreased because of the loss of the supermarket. This strongly relates to the symbolic and village level meanings of the supermarket: A village ‘needs’ a supermarket for the villages’ status and as a place to do groceries, and people feel that a village without a supermarket is a village without a heart. The article concludes by alleging that the symbolic meaning of facilities plays an important role in explaining the perceived effects of the loss of the local supermarket.
Sociologia Ruralis - Tập 61 Số 3 - Trang 561-577 - 2021
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