 Quality, Nature, and Embeddedness: Some Theoretical Considerations in the Context of the Food SectorJonathan Murdoch, Terry Marsden and Jo Banks Economic Geography, 2000, vol. 76, issue 2, 107-125 Abstract: In this paper we analyze a turn to “quality” in both food production and consumption. We argue that quality in the food sector, as it is being asserted at the present time, is closely linked to nature and the local embeddedness of supply chains. We thus outline the broad contours of this shift and discuss the most appropriate theoretical approaches. We consider political economy, actor-network theory, and conventions theory and argue that, whereas political economy has proved useful in the analysis of globalization, it may prove less so in the examination of quality. We concentrate, therefore, upon actor-network theory and conventions theory and show that the former allows nature to be brought to the center of analytical attention but provides few tools for the analysis of quality, especially in the context of the food sector. Conventions theory, on the other hand, links together a range of aspects found in food supply chains and allows us to consider the establishment of quality as a system of negotiation between specific qualities. We illustrate possible uses of the approach through a brief consideration of food supply chains in Wales. Date: 2000 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:76:y:2000:i:2:p:107-125 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2000.tb00136.x Access Statistics for this article Economic Geography is currently edited by James Murphy More articles in Economic Geography from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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