Hypermodernity and Eclecticism. An Illustration from Eating Habits

By looking at contemporary dietary choices François Ascher shows how societies are becoming increasingly modern or indeed “hypermodern”, i.e. modern in more advanced and multifaceted ways. He argues that eating habits strongly reflect social dynamics and enable us to have clearer insights into the way that each person combines individualism with social relations. As he shows here, individuals have highly eclectic eating habits that reveal both genuine independence, a real freedom of choice, and also new patterns of social relationships, personal convictions, restrictions (individual or collective), and new manifestations of social inequalities… These trends are not limited to food, but can also be observed in other aspects of social life, thus conveying an idea of the changes occurring in modern societies.