Final Reflection portion

As Rozin states, “A second cause of fads is social influence. Humans like to do what others are doing, particularly prestigious others. As more and more people, particularly elites, adopt a custom, or a line of research, it becomes more attractive.” The social influence on fads and other eating-related behaviors is one that I’ve really grown to notice throughout this course. In regards to eating organically, the idea of this alternative market as being a ‘fad’ is a definitive possibility. In general, the organic market was influenced by prestigious, more ethically minded, healthier, environmentally aware, reflexive consumers. This just goes to show the true power that society has on the actions of humans. In particular, I never really paid attention to just how important social and cultural influences really are on our behaviors as consumers and producers. The role of social and cultural influence is seen in many areas of food and hunger within our society, some more obvious than others. For example, as Fitchen (1997) states, the poor’s food choices are dominated by American culture. This leads them to make decisions, usually poor in the nutritive sense, and rather strong in regards to what is popular in culture—they cling to, and subsequently spend more money (most of the time that they don’t have) on ‘status foods’ because they are culturally accepted. Fitchen’s research truly drives Rozin’s point home: “As I shifted my interest from food choice in animals to food choice in humans, it became obvious that culture was the dominant force in shaping human food choice.” (Rozin, 2007, p. 759).