Contemporary Social Processes: Towards Ecological Food Utopias

This chapter extends Elias’s discussion of utopias to food systems via the notion of contemporary social processes and ecological civilising processes. Looking at the role played by utopias in illuminating the worsening social and ecological problems associated with the long-term developmental trajectory of the global food system, the foundations of industrial agriculture are traced back to the sixteenth century when European powers were exerting their influence around the globe and perfect utopian societies were becoming fashionable. Examining the entanglement of technological food utopias, based on the belief that technology can deliver clean and affordable food for everyone everywhere, with anthropological food utopias and moral arguments stressing the need for humans to change what and how they eat, it is argued that a focus on social relations is key to realising ecological utopian visions.