Ulrich Beck's 'Risk Society' Thesis and Representations of Food and Eating
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Ulrich Beck’s ‘risk society’ thesis and representations of food and eating in the British general interest women’s magazine sector 1979-2003 Katherine Elizabeth Wilkinson, BA Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2005 Abstract Beck asserts that since the 1950s, broad social transformations have radically altered collective relations. According to Beck, these changes have rendered conventional materialist analyses no longer appropriate to describe the new times we are living in. Beck links radical restructuring of organisational forms with the reorientation of cultural experience and modern selfhood as we move from ‘class’ to ‘risk’ positions (Beck, 1992: Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2003). This thesis employs a creative operationalisation of the key dimensions of Beck’s predictions, allowing them to be tested as hypotheses using data from the women’s magazine sector. Beck’s idea that cultural organisational practice is coming under increasing pressure to reorganise and encompass new principles of social orientation is critically evaluated. The magazine titles selected for analysis represent the different socio- economic, age and family responsibility status of this sector’s target audience. A longitudinal sample of the representation of food and eating is subject to a textual analysis to catalogue the historical development of these processes. In addition, interviews with editorial staff examine the underlying production principles of mediated selection and framing practice. Empirical evidence is generated to assess whether changing institutional practice is involved in society’s move from one set of social arrangements to another. This thesis essentially evaluates Beck’s assertion that the forces transforming organisational practice are rooted 2 in an innovative institutional drive to democratise. The findings suggest that Beck’s explanation is insufficient and that classical materialist and market-driven accounts of institutional policy and practice remain appropriate. 3 Acknowledgements I wish to thank the Leverhulme Trust for funding this project and my supervisors, Professor Robert Dingwall, and Dr Meryl Aldridge for their support and input during the whole PhD process. I would also like to thank Tim Savage from Banner Cross News and all the library staff at all the sites I visited. My appreciation also goes out to the editorial staff that took time out of their busy schedule to talk to me. I must express my sincere gratitude to John for his support with the Excel spread sheets. I also salute Dewi and Gwesyn for the superb stew and lasagne that have seen us through the final stages. Hopefully I will now have more time to widen your recipe repertoire. Many thanks must go to Rhiannon who has been an inspiration in many ways, no more so than for insisting I face the fear and do it anyway. I would like to thank Sheila, Kwang and Chet for forcing me out to keep- fit each week, even if it was the post-exercise hot chocolate that focussed my thoughts. Harriet, Peter, Duncan, Helen, Anne and Bryan have provided me with endless support over the years, some from over the garden fence and some from the other side of the country. Special thanks have to be reserved for my mother Valerie and good friend Hazel without whom I would never have reached this stage with my good sense intact. In loving memory of Lianne and baby Reece 4 Contents List of tables 11 Thesis introduction 14 Chapter I Ulrich Beck’s ‘risk society’ thesis Introduction 22 Beck’s risk society narrative 24 Relations of production to relations of definition 25 From ‘class’ to ‘risk’ as the new distributional logic 27 Individualisation 29 Reflexive modernisation 31 Media Studies and Beck’s narrative 35 Hypothesis Development 39 Mapping social stratification 40 Beck’s model of social stratification 41 Appropriating Beck’s model of stratification 43 Beck and the women’s magazine sector 45 Chapter II The British general interest women’s magazine sector Introduction 48 Market segmentation 50 The ‘business’ of market segmentation 56 Generating revenue 61 Editorial autonomy 65 Delivering the reader 68 Editorial address 71 Reading women’s magazines 75 Conclusion 79 5 Chapter III Hypotheses, methods and methodology Introduction 82 Hypotheses and research tasks 83 Hypothesis 1: The democratisation of social knowledge 83 Hypothesis 2: The individualisation of social relationships 85 Hypothesis 3: The disappearance of collective distinction 86 Methods and methodologies 87 Representation Sample selection 88 Sample collection 92 Data analysis 94 A thematic analysis 99 The process of analysis 101 Production Sample selection 102 The interview guide 104 Data collection 107 The status of interview data 107 The position of the researcher 108 Data analysis 110 The status of requested and electively produced data 112 Chapter IIII Hypotheses 1: The democratisation of social knowledge Introduction 113 Participation as institutional practice 115 Patterns of readership participation 116 Reader as decisive institutional resource 120 Reader as equally authoritative 123 6 Summary 125 The demonopolisation of expertise 126 Traditional and alternative sourced expertise 127 Credibility, cost and expert knowledge 132 The presentation of contradictory expertise 138 Sceptical institutional stance 140 Summary 144 The institutionalisation of uncertainty 144 Potentially anxiety-provoking content 145 Vacuum of authority 149 Summary 150 Conclusion 151 Chapter V Hypotheses 2: The individualisation of social relationships Introduction 153 ‘Duty to oneself’ as institutional practice 154 Food, eating and the female self 155 The female self as autonomous and independent 161 Summary 164 The consolidation of elective friendships 165 Food, eating and friends 166 The friendship/ entertainment discourse 170 Summary 173 The demonopolisation of the family 174 Food, eating and the family 176 The reconstitution of the independent female ‘self’ 179 Summary 184 Conclusion 185 7 Chapter VI Hypotheses 3: The disappearance of collective distinction Introduction 188 The democratisation of material status distinction 192 Food, eating and expenditure 194 Expenditure and product promotion 196 Health and expenditure 198 Economical and cost capability framing 204 Two expenditure models 204 Summary 206 The merging of public and private spheres 207 A wider world brought into the domestic sphere 207 Employment outside the home 209 Foreign travel, culture and influence 213 Alternative food and eating practice 215 Vegetarianism 216 Environmental issues 218 National identity 221 Summary 223 The disappearance of social status distinction 224 Status distinction and food and eating practice 226 Style and ambiance 226 Alcohol and meal courses 227 Purpose, distinction and practice 230 Fat, fiber, carbohydrate and calorific values 230 Processed foods and natural ingredients 233 Summary 235 Conclusion 236 8 Chapter VII Relations of definition and organisational culture in the British women’s magazine sector Introduction 238 The data sample 240 The democratisation of social knowledge 242 Reader participation 242 The demonopolisation of expertise 245 Vacuum of authority 251 Summary 253 The individualisation of social relationships 254 Self interest as institutional practice 254 The consolidation of elected friendships 255 The democratisation of the family 258 Summary 259 The disappearance of collective distinction 259 The disappearance of economic distinction 260 The convergence of public and private spheres 261 The world of employment 262 Foreign travel, culture and influence 264 Alternative food and eating practice 265 The disappearance of social status distinction 266 Summary 269 Editorship and organisational culture 270 Commercial realities 271 The rhetoric of actuality 274 The circulation of tacit knowledge 276 Conclusion 283 9 Chapter VIII Ulrich Beck’s ‘risk society’ thesis and the British general interest women’s magazine sector Introduction 286 Hypotheses and findings 288 Hypothesis 1: Democratisation of social knowledge 288 Hypothesis 2: Individualisation of social relationships 292 Hypothesis 3: Disappearance of collective distinction 297 Relations of definition in the women’s magazine sector 301 Reflections on Beck’s thesis 304 Inflated claim for an historical break 306 Exaggerating the oppositional potential of society’s institutions 309 Overstating the democratising force of modernity 313 Conclusion 316 Appendix 1 318 Bibliography 321 10 List of tables Chapter four Fig. 4a Incidence of reader-sourced magazine content Fig. 4b Proportion of total food and eating content that is reader-sourced Fig. 4c Proportion of total expert references that is alternatively sourced Fig. 4d Expert knowledge presented as illustrative of editorial stance Fig. 4e Expert Knowledge presented as stand-alone Fig. 4f Proportion of external expertise providing direct quotation Fig. 4g Proportion of external expertise providing identification of research author and/ or institution Fig. 4h Proportion of external expertise providing further reading and/or contact details Fig. 4i Incidence of potentially anxiety-provoking material Chapter five Fig. 5a Incidence of references to female ‘self’ Fig. 5b Proportion of total food and eating references addressing ‘self’ 11 Fig. 5c Proportion of references originally coded as ‘self’ broken down into: 1) ‘Self’ as independent 2) ‘Self’ as responsible for others Fig. 5d Incidence of friendship/entertaining reference Fig. 5e Proportion of total food and eating content