Analyse the consumption of food within consumers and society

In this essay I intend to explore the role of marketing within a sociological view and how society and consumption has had an effect on how consumers view their selves and their acts of consumption. I am going to base these findings on the consumption of food and use the knowledge of theorists; Marx, Weber and Bourdieu to help me do so.

Consumption trends and patterns alter constantly as social and economic changes occur. Consumption patterns can be taken back to the 1900's. Many of the institutions that sustain and promote mass consumption first took shape near the end of the 19th century. Department stores appeared in the big cities of England, France, and the United States, creating comfortable semi-public spaces in which consumers could contemplate many different purchases. New packaging technologies were developed, allowing distribution of goods in bags, cans, and bottles. This technological advance made it possible for the first time to create nationally and internationally known "brand names" in the marketing of foods, beverages, cosmetics, and other goods.

Look back into history and you will find patterns of consumption very different from those that exist today. Go back a few centuries, and almost no one in any country spent a significant amount money or time on shopping for goods or luxuries. Centuries ago the vast majority of each country's population lived in rural areas and worked in agriculture. Their clothing and household possessions were extremely limited and were typically made by household members or by people from the same village. Fashions, technological change, and social pressure did not drive people constantly to make new purchases; rather, individual material goods were used, with repairs if needed, for decades. Major items such as winter coats were expected to last a lifetime and more and were often passed from one generation to the next.

The Industrial Revolution clearly transformed production and consumption. Large-scale industrialization began in the British textile industry; the amount of cotton used in that industry rose from less than £3 million in 1760 to more than £360 million annually in the 1830s. (Eds, Cutler J.)
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In the early 19th century, roughly two-thirds of the increased output was sold to other countries around the world. Much of it went to less developed areas such as India, which was rapidly becoming a British colony,

There were limits, however, to the possibility of growth through expansion into foreign markets. As other industries followed textiles, and other countries followed Britain's example of industrialization, much of the growing output was sold at home or to other relatively developed countries. Thus mass production required mass consumption. Over the course of the 19th century, both the growing middle ...

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