Research
Food Sociology at the University of Giessen researchers sustainable food systems with particular focus on two areas and fields of interest:
1. Food practices and food cultures
The first focus on food practices and food cultures studies food in societal context. We are interested in concepts and approaches from cultural sociology to investigate how food relates to beliefs, norms cultural affiliation. We are also interested in the social differentiation via food, social inequalities and social justice with regard to more sustainable food consumption.
Selected publications
- F Forno, M Laamanen, S Wahlen (2022) (Un-) sustainable transformations: everyday food practices in Italy during COVID-19. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy 18 (1), 201-214. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2022.2037341 (open access)
- M Plessz & S Wahlen (2022) All practices are shared, but some more than others: Sharedness of social practices and time-use in food consumption. Journal of Consumer Culture, 22(1):143-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540520907146
- F Forno & S Wahlen (2022) Prefiguration in everyday practices: when the mundande becomes political. In: L. Monticelli (ed.) The future is now. An introduction to prefigurative politics. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
2. Socio-political organisation of food provisioning and consumption
Our second key interest in the socio-political organisation of food lies in scrutinising institutional, organisational and political parameters of sustainable food systems. In the sense of food politics, we are interested in how various actors and stakeholders influence systems of provision and everyday eating. Food is a multidimensional phenomenon that needs consideration across scales, local, regional or global, but also with regard to different forms of organisation.
Selected publications
- M Laamanen, F Forno, S Wahlen (2022) Neo-materialist movement organisations and the matter of scale: scaling through institutions as prefigurative politics? Journal of Marketing Management, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2022.2045342
- F Forno, S Wahlen (2022) Prefiguration in everyday practices. In: L. Monticelli (ed.) The future is now. An introduction to prefigurative politics. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
- M Laamanen, S Wahlen, S Lorek (2018) A moral householding perspective on the sharing economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 202: 1220-1227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.224
- S Wahlen, S Dubuisson-Quellier (2018) Consumption governance toward more sustainable consumption. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 110 (1), 7-12. https://doi.org/10.14307/JFCS110.1.7
Contact
Prof. Dr. Stefan Wahlen
Senckenbergstr. 3
35390 Gießen, Germany