Cfp Workshop “Worlds of food in movement” at the upcoming congress “Communities and societies in movement” of the Swiss Sociological Association, 2-4 September 2026 at the University of Fribourg, https://events.unifr.ch/ssa-conference2026/en/
Organization: Rainer Diaz-Bone (Universität Luzern)

Food is a total social and cultural phenomenon. Food research topics link questions such as what people eat and why, how food is part of their lifestyle, how food is produced and consumed, with what organizational logic and social and ecological consequences, and what contribution food makes to cultural identities. So far food has been mainly approached with different too narrow perspectives as “sociology of eating” (Murcott 2019) or approached from the perspective of one topic only such as the sociology of health, economic sociology, and consumer sociology or the sociology of social inequalities (Bourdieu 1984). The concept of “worlds of food” was developed by the so-called convention theory (Storper and Salais 1997; Murdoch et al. 2006) and enlarges perspectives on food.
Worlds of food, their movements, transitions, and the socio-economic and socio-cultural nexus of food production, distribution, and consumption are the focus of this more comprehensive
approach. Applying this concept, the changes in production, distribution, and consumption of food are key aspects and forms of articulation of social (both regional and global) movements. New life-styles, the discussion of climate change, the effects of migration and of globalization on the spectrum and discourses of food are just a few indicators. The neopragmatist convention theory in particular has made a wide range of contributions to the analysis of problems and critiques related to food production, distribution, eating and their consequences. Since the 1980s and up to the present day, convention theory (or economics and sociology of conventions, EC/SC) has produced a large number of studies that initially dealt with the structure and dynamics of the food industry (Diaz-Bone and Larquier 2022). The focus then moved on to the analysis of quality concepts (evaluation logics), institutional logics of food production, distribution, and consumption as well as emerging social conflicts and disputes related to food issues.
The planned workshop will bring together presentations that examine, compare, and evaluate different worlds of food in motion.
Proposals (max. 2 000 characters) based on EC/SC or related approaches can be submitted until March 31, 2026 to rainer.diaz-bone@unilu.ch
References
Bourdieu, Pierre (1984): Distinction. A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Diaz-Bone, Rainer/Larquier, Guillemette de (eds.)(2022): Handbook of economics and sociology of conventions. Living reference edition. Cham: Springer.
Morgan, Kevin/Marsden, Terry/Murdoch, Jonathan (2006): Worlds of food. Place, power, and provenance in the food chain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Murcott, Anne (2019): Introducing the sociology of food and eating. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Storper, Michael/Salais, Robert (1997): Worlds of production. The action frameworks of the economy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.





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