The Fight Over Food : Producers, Consumers, and Activists Challenge the Global Food System

“食品體系的一個問題是價格是底線，而不是底線是土地管理，對小規模家庭農場或有機種植農產品的環境和社會價值的認識。” - 與農民的訪談在華盛頓州斯卡吉特縣

在二十世紀後期的大部分時間裡，食品對於大多數先進工業社會的居民來說都是豐富和便利的。把食物的安全性和可靠性視為理所當然的奢侈品在很多人的意識中將它推到了後面。然而，越來越多的這種曾經被認可的食品系統在諸如動物的人道待遇，轉基因食品以及社會和環境正義等問題上受到質疑。許多消費者不再滿足於購買他們曾經依賴的主流商品驅動的食品市場。抵抗運動以各種形式出現，從全球麥當勞餐廳開業的抗議活動到對CSA（社區支持的農業），公平貿易和有機食品等替代品的日益增長的興趣。隨著人們對可負擔得起的方便食品的需求超出對健康和無害環境的替代品的需求，食品系統正日益成為反映社會價值觀和規範變化的鬥爭的舞台。在這本書中，領先的學者和活動家提供案例研究，闡明圍繞農業“新的一天”出現的複雜性和矛盾。

“食物之戰”中的文章分析和評估了農產品系統的理論和歷史背景以及個體行動和集體活動趨勢導致“抵抗積累”的方式，這極大地影響了主流食品市場生產。整合案例研究的首要主題是人類機構的概念，以及人們有目的和創造性地產生新形式的行動或阻力以促進主流文化規範結構內社會變革的方式。這些研究共同探討了這些共同努力是否具有在食品系統中創造重大和持久變革的力量。

“One problem with the food system is that price is the bottom line rather than having the bottom line be land stewardship, an appreciation for the environmental and social value of small-scale family farms, or for organically grown produce.” —Interview with farmer in Skagit County, Washington

For much of the later twentieth century, food has been abundant and convenient for most residents of advanced industrial societies. The luxury of taking the safety and dependability of food for granted pushed it to the back burner in the consciousness of many. Increasingly, however, this once taken-for-granted food system is coming under question on issues such as the humane treatment of animals, genetically engineered foods, and social and environmental justice. Many consumers are no longer content with buying into the mainstream, commodity-driven food market on which they once depended. Resistance has emerged in diverse forms, from protests at the opening of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide to ever-greater interest in alternatives, such as CSAs (community-supported agriculture), fair trade, and organic foods. The food system is increasingly becoming an arena of struggle that reflects larger changes in societal values and norms, as expectations are moving beyond the desire for affordable, convenient foods to a need for healthy and environmentally sound alternatives. In this book, leading scholars and scholar-activists provide case studies that illuminate the complexities and contradictions that surround the emergence of a “new day” in agriculture.

The essays found in The Fight Over Food analyze and evaluate both the theoretical and historical contexts of the agrifood system and the ways in which trends of individual action and collective activity have led to an “accumulation of resistance” that greatly affects the mainstream market of food production. The overarching theme that integrates the case studies is the idea of human agency and the ways in which people purposefully and creatively generate new forms of action or resistance to facilitate social changes within the structure of predominant cultural norms. Together these studies examine whether these combined efforts will have the strength to create significant and enduring transformations in the food system.

   Wynne Wright (Autor)

Publisher:Penn State University Press 

ISBN:    978-0271032740 

原價   US 65 台幣價 NT$2275