Exploring the social value of organic food

Sandrine Costa (1) , Lydia Zepeda (2) , Lucie Sirieix (1)

1 UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs
2 University of Wisconsin-Madison

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether organic foods are used to signal social identity, class, or status, i.e. if they have social value. Bourdieu’s (1979; 1994) approach and symbolic interactionism (Solomon, 1983) are used to frame the causes and consequences of social value and to highlight the marketing implications. Specifically, results of a four focus group study indicate that organic food has a social value, but that its value depends on other green behaviors by the consumer or the producer, and also on the venue (CSA, market, supermarket).

Mots clés: ORGANIC FOOD; STATUS; SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM; SOCIOLOGIE; BOURDIEU; ALIMENTATION BIOLOGIQUE; INTERACTIONNISME SYMBOLIQUE; human feeding

Mots clés: alimentation humaine; agriculture biologique; marketing; comportement des consommateurs

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Sandrine Costa, Lydia Zepeda, Lucie Sirieix. Exploring the social value of organic food. 5. International Consumer Sciences Research Conference (ICSRC), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. DEU., Jul 2011, Bonn, Germany. 21 p. ⟨hal-01499049⟩