The Decline of the 'High Street'

On reading of Emile Durkheim’s life and the bases of his works, I can begin to imagine the response he may have had to the book ‘Shopped’ by Joanna Blythman. Firstly I will put into the picture Joanna Blytham’s background. “Joanna Blythman is Britain's leading investigative food journalist and an influential commentator on the British food chain. She has won four Glenfiddich awards for her writing, including a Glenfiddich Special Award for her first book, The Food We Eat, a Caroline Walker Media Award for 'Improving the Nation's Health by Means of Good Food', and a Guild of Food Writers Award for The Food We Eat. In 2004, she won the prestigious Derek Cooper Award, one of BBC Radio 4's Food and Farming Awards. She has also written two other groundbreaking books, How to Avoid GM Food and The Food Our Children Eat. She writes and broadcasts frequently on food issues.” “Blythman's book is the result of two year's research on supermarkets. During the 1970s, around 10% of our food spending went to the supermarkets. Today, it is over 80%. Not content with this, the major chains are conducting a full frontal assault on market share in countless other sectors. Their targets include clothing, household good, electronics, insurance, internet access. The list is endless. You might think this is a good thing. You might think that supermarkets are convenient for today's busy lifestyle. You might think that their enormous buying power results in cheaper prices for you at the checkout. However, have you ever considered the cost and there is always a cost of supermarket dominance. Blythman's book considers the cost.”

‘Shopped’ is a book about the comparison between supermarkets and local shops, it is an eye opening book based on the lack of choice available to supermarket goers. It analyses the costs of huge supermarkets and the products they offer at a cost unimaginable.

I feel Durkheim is a good person, who’s view I can see agreeing with the author Joanna Blythman. This is because the inspiration to write the book came from her trip to France and as we know Durkheim grew up in France. The similarities in environment, although decades later, are comparable, as French life style is more cultural then as can be said for the equivalent in England.

Durkheim suggests the move towards efficiency and convenience is inevitable, as supermarkets provide a diverse product range all under one roof as to say. Our busy life styles are the causes for demand in supermarkets. Supermarkets use this power gained from consumers demand and benefit from mass production advantages and bulk buying savings. Some of these savings are past down to the consumer although the quality of the product becomes poorer. The packaging and colour may give the impression the product is very fresh and good in taste but actually it’s quite the opposite. Local shops such as green grocers provide much higher quality goods, with real freshness and taste. It is merely down to lack of consumer knowledge that such big changes have come about so soon. Supermarkets are appearing everywhere and with it causing smaller shops to shut down. A modern family visits one store for all their food on a weekly basis rather than their local corner shops every now and then. In France the community life allows for the local shops to stay in business as they depend less on supermarkets.

Individuals only see the price they pay at the counter and not the externalities caused by them buying a product that has been picked before it was ripe, sprayed with pesticides and then washed in chlorine before being packed in plastic. These foods although edible, do not provide the satisfaction in taste with organic foods that are brought in fresh.

Durkheim believed in social integration and meals that are available from supermarkets are ready cooked meals that should only be targeted at young single bachelors but are in fact used by families to make a meal in minutes. The family instead of enjoying a meal cooked by a member of family and then eating all together round a table is very rare. Now days we tend to eat at different times to others in the house and usually in front of the telly. Durkheim argued that family life was very important and proved this in many ways. One of which was comparing suicide rates with married and single individuals. Durkheim deduced that “unmarried persons take their own lives more frequently than do persons who are married” Durkheim looked very closely at the domestic environment and all factors associated with family lifestyle, he proved that being part of a family and having a relationship or a feeling of belonging to something bigger was a very important part of a persons life.

Supermarkets fade away this sense of family togetherness maybe not through all its products but definitely from the ready cooked meals that only need warming up. They also take away the community from us. I remember when I was younger having to go to the local shops couple blocks away to buy bread and milk, I got to know the shopkeepers, I became a familiar face to them. Now days when I go to Asda its on a weekly basis and a different cashier nearly every time, you don’t even have much of a conversation. The cashier just says hi, cash or card, would like any cash back and that it. My local shops used to ask me bout my mum and my school and a whole lot of stuff which made me feel loyal to them.

After reading shopped and not on the label I have definitely changed my views, even though I prefer the convenience of supermarkets, it is definitely not worth the cost of your family friends shops being closed down or an illness spreading due to unhygienic or over pesticide sprayed foods. Fair trade goods are another way to be acting morally as they ensure the farmers producing the goods are well paid and not unethically under paid. Durkheim’s theories go quite deep and I have only touched the surface. A deeper understanding is needed to assess his true reaction to a text such as this.