Individualized Society and the Sustainability of Agriculture and the Environment since the ‘Quality Turn’

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  • 「個人化社会」と農業と環境の持続可能性のゆくえ――クオリティ・ターン以後――
  • 「 コジンカ シャカイ 」 ト ノウギョウ ト カンキョウ ノ ジゾク カノウセイ ノ ユクエ : クオリティ ・ ターン イゴ

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Abstract

<p>What is the reality of ‘agriculture and environmental sustainability’ with which environmental sociology should be concerned, now that organic farm products are readily available from supermarkets across the country? This paper examines the question from the perspectives of ‘quality turn’ (Allaire, 2004) and ‘individualization.’ To begin with, the underlying processes of two types of innovation in the commodification of farm products and the construction of markets introduced from the late 1990s are clarified. The first innovation was brought about because of the purchasing power of supermarket chains that were able to insist on what farmers produced and how they produced it. The second innovation was initiated by some food producers due to dissatisfaction with the demands of the supermarkets, and in order to establish their own retail routes and identities as producers. These innovative processes correspond to the reaction of farmers and supermarkets to new aspects of the consumer society. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the ongoing actions of supermarkets and farmers engaged in vegetable production in Japan and presents a comprehensive picture of their different approaches to production and distribution systems resulting from the innovations in question. The relationship between the two different approaches towards innovation is then discussed. In conclusion, the paper highlights new relationships between agriculture and environmental sustainability as well as discussing some of the newly emerged problems associated with those relationships.</p>

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