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TIME | 2 September 2010, 4pm onwards
LOCATION | CSAFE Seminar Room, , Dunedin
SPEAKER | Miranda Mirosa
Social movement ideology is an especially critical level of analysis for social scientists as it not only defines a movement but it is also its product. Ideology is what a movement uses to brand itself, position itself against adversaries, and to recruit new members. In 2010, the Slow Food Movement's ideology is summed up by the slogan: “good, clean and fair food”. But this hasn't always been the case. As the president of the Slow Food Movement Carlo Petrini explains, this ideology is “a result of our twenty-year journey.... While respecting our original search for pleasure and taste, it includes the ever more urgent ecological and social issues emerging around the world”. This presentation discusses the journey of Slow Food ideology as well as critically examines the movements' current ideologies. I argue that the movement's present use of ‘choice' as an ideological master frame is not only confusing for consumers but that by positioning themselves in this way, Slow Food are limiting their ability to effectively challenge the neo-liberal paradigm that drives the current food system. I suggest that perhaps it is time for Slow Food leaders to start thinking about employing an alternative master frame which will differentiate them from, and help better undermine, their opposition.
Dr Miranda Mirosa is currently the Project Coordinator for a 3-year research programme called Energy Cultures, based at CSAFE. Miranda also works as a Contract Lecturer in the Marketing Department teaching food marketing. Miranda is a consumer behaviour researcher and her research includes anti-consumption, sustainable consumption (especially in the context of food and energy), consumer movements and activism. She finished her PhD at the end of 2009, which was entitled: Dynamic ideologies: Insights from the Slow Food Movement.