Work and play

 Vandalyn Hudson

3/30/2021

Response Paper 

Play or Work

After reading the essay Work and Leisure in Everyday Life  Lefebvre talked a lot about how life plays three elements; leisure, work, and private life. It also mentions in the essay a lot about the bourgeois society and reminds me of the Eaters and Eaten essay because Legebvre refers to it as “work”. Therefore, work and the bourgeois society go hand and hand together because of how people try hard to entertain their lives by creating more things to do and to show off that they can juggle a lot. Whereas, leisure is more of a free play activity as in what people do outside their work and family time. 

Lefebvre also mentions how the three aspects of leisure, work, and private life plays a role into making up a global structure where we as people can recreate and reconnect fake from reality. He refers to it as radios and TVs can be how people use their relaxation, but historically it would be songs, poems, books, etc to give entertainment. Therefore, this plays a part into historical shifting sort of like Schivelbusch’s essay because of how trains create lost of time and space because you are not physically doing it. So, leisure activities create more leanway of how you spend your time because it is not productive.

Work and Leisure

    Henri Lefebvre examines cultural and historical understandings of leisure in his essay “Work and Leisure in Everyday Life”. Lefebvre describes the, primarily western, concepts of work, the structure of everyday life, and ideas of leisure. He writes about the historic movement from viewing work as integral part of identity, whether it was domestic work or production work, to the creation of Bourgeoise Society and emerging ideas of leisure activity. Lefebvre details how leisure became a concept of “work” that was viewed as something outside of everyday life, or the real world, and was something the individual embarked upon of their own volition. In capitalist society, leisure became an imperative, something that gave people a “break”, to indulge in a kind of acceptable laziness. To Lefebvre, leisure is just a different kind of work, since all activities are a form of engaging with material, his example of somebody watching a movie is, no matter how passive they may seem, engaging with the screen. 

I liked Lefebvre’s inspection of cultural relations to work. I think that it is important to consider what our preconceptions of Everyday Life are, or should be, and how we view work. The Western Capitalist ideas of work, rest, work, rest can be very unhealthy and destructive to the individuals operating within those societies. By scrutinizing the historical groundwork that has led us to our current cultural conceptions on work, can help us work towards a healthier attitude. 

Leisure

 Madison Blackburn

Geography 101

March 31, 2021

The essay for this week was known as Work and Leisure in Everyday Life by Henri Lefebvre. In this essay it talks about how our life consists on three important things known as work, family, and leisure. These are all things that consist in our typical day. This is much different from in the past way back to about the middle days where everything was basically one. There was no leisure time and work and family time were combined, not different ideas. Families would work together all of the time. As time progressed work, family, and leisure slowly began becoming individual items. Nowadays, most people who work spend their time after work as leisure time or being around their family. Everyone's leisure time looks different, and that is what makes it so unique to everybody. 

Many people who don't know what it is like to have no leisure time take leisure time for granted. They are consistently wanting more whether it is an object or more time. I think it is important that we don't take our leisure and family time for granted. 

Leisure Fantasy

Jesse Ernst

3/30/21

GEOG 101

Leisure Fantasy

When we look at the landscape of our life and how we function in and out of the work place environment, we may become increasingly aware that our leisure activities don't satisfy.  There is a good chance that we may feel that something is missing in our life.  The article Work and Leisure in Everyday Life illustrates how not only is this landscape designed by others; mainly capitalistic bourgeois, but it is at its core a fantasy of fulfillments.

The article starts off by explaining how surreal our view of the ideal world is.  Although people know it's not really real, they spend leisure time watching TV shows that aren’t reality.  The author examines leisure activities and how they became a needed part of our society's identity.  The bourgeois and the peasant have complete opposite views on the matter of leisure.  For the peasant “work is not separate from the everyday life of the family” (p. 30).  I have first hand experience on this; I have a friend in a nearby village who just lives life. His family doesn't go on weekend relaxation outings; they just live life.  If he was to join me on an outing, it would be for a purpose like hunting or gathering something useful, not for a needed “break” (p. 33) or craved “relaxation” (p. 34). 

There is no doubt that our society in general has many capitalistic ideas and its ideology informs how we process and make decisions; however, our distinct culture affects to what degree the pattern of work and leisure has taken root.  This ideology has control over many aspects of life from films to sports. There is no shortage of activities whose imagery portrays a better life, and a life of joy, for those who have an excess of money and leisure.

Leisure and Real Individuality

 Jennifer Spatz

Geography 101

Response Paper 7 

Simpson

“Everyday life” is a concept explored by Henri Lefebvre in his essay Work and Leisure in Everyday Life. What creates an experience of everyday life is the sum of an individual's choices regarding how they spend their time between work and family through acts of leisure and the freedom of having that choice. Lefebvre goes through the social history of the concept on a global level in which the ideas vary based on geographical and economic status. 

The history and development of leisure is heavily focused on in this essay in regards to the division between the work and home setting. Lefebvre explains, in a sense that there is no difference between leisure and work as “a man is still the same man.” (30). However, he offers a counter idea, that “work leisure” exists in the sense that freedom of choice exists at work, but differs from the choices brought from home leisure. The separation of life between work and home in this case dissolves as it describes the naturally occurring phenomenon in sociological history. In the Middle Ages, leisure was directly paired with work. In the seventeenth century, leisure was only developed through the lack of work of a man. In the bourgeois society, individualism only develops outside of labor through the chosen leisure. There is a sense of unity in work and home leisure that evolves over time. What it may be now, could be very different in many ages from now.

Work Life vs. Home Life

Breckon Lawlar

Cultural Geography 

Response Paper 7

03/30/2021

   Work Life vs. Home Life

In the article, Work and Leisure in Everyday Life By Henri Lefebrve He talks about the separations between work and home life. He talks about how in the middle ages there was no separation between where someone lived verus where they worked. The separation only came around during the Industrial revolution. With that separation from home and work, people now had that time to do leisurely activities. Things that they wanted to do and enjoyed doing. This was their way of “reconnecting” to life as Lefebrve puts it. People needed something to get them away from work and make them happier. 

The separation between work life and home life was a huge step for people’s mental health. Being able to come home after a long day at work and relax was beneficial to those who disliked their jobs or had more stressful jobs. 

 

Leisure Seeking

Leisure Seeking

This weeks reading, “Work and Leisure in Everyday Life” by Henri Lefebvre, explores the nature of leisure in everyday living. Lefebvre discusses how everyday life can be critiqued by looking at leisure activities. Prior to the bourgeois society, Lefebvre states, “individuality, or rather personality could only really develop outside productive labour" furthermore in peasant life, “work is not separate from the everyday life of the family” (30). Lefebvre discusses how the global structure has developed pertaining to work and leisure, and identifies the “work-leisure unity” as the time associated with work and leisure time outside of work hours. This is a social function of how people are living day-to-day. Lefebvre further states, “Leisure must break with the everyday...and not only as far as work is concerned, but also for day-to-day family life” (33), the goal of leisure being relaxation, stress and obligation free. 

Lefebvre discusses how leisure has become a global activity and something we buy into. He discusses leisure machines, such as radio and television, and how attitudes toward leisure are exploited commercially. Lefebvre further discusses how we are now in the “illusory reverse image” domain, explaining this is “a false world... because it is not a world, it presents itself as true, and it mimics real life closely to replace the real by the opposite, by replacing real unhappiness with fictions of happiness” (35). Lefebvre further states this is the world of most leisure activities such as movies, media, music and theater. These leisure activities are tied to our societal structure, in how leisure is seen as freedom, and work is seen as necessary, and how we seek out that freedom of leisure outside of our necessary constraints.

Work and Leisure

Theresa Wellington- McGilton 

Professor Simpson 

Response Paper 

30 March 2021 

 

Work & Leisure in Everyday Life 

    

In the essay “ Work and Leisure in Everyday Life” Lefebvre talks about the global structure of family, life, work and leisure in terms of every day. Throughout the Middle Ages there wasn’t a difference between where someone lived and where they worked. There was no clear distinction between the two, they were basically the same thing. However, in the age of industrialization you started to see a shift. It was decided that separating work and home was important for everyone’s well-being. Work was something that the people had to do to survive, so it wasn’t an option and wasn’t very enjoyable. Our author connects this point to the people being disconnected from life, what is a life if all you do is work?

    The people sought ways to “reconnect” with life, things that were enjoyable for them. What came of that was leisure activities, activities that took away from the everyday stress of life and would help to relax them. Leisure gave a certain freedom, allowing the people to express themselves and be who they are outside of the work place. By the end of the essay we know this; everyday life is filled with a combination of three things work, family and leisure. All three are vital to our survival because they each play a different part. Work keeps us afloat, family keeps us going and leisure helps us be more present in every other area of life.

Work, Family and Leisure

 Jennifer Burton

Geog. 101

3/30/2021

Response paper #7

Work, Family and Leisure

In the article "Work and Leisure in Everyday Life” by Henri Lefebvre, Lefebvre talks about the global structure of every day family life, work, and leisure. In the middle ages, people lived where they worked. There was no differentiation between work life and family life; they were the same. They did not have leisure time or time to find their individuality.  In the age of industrialization with capitalism, people no longer lived and worked at home. The separation between work and home became something that was very important for psychological health.  Working in the factories, or working for someone else, indirectly or directly, was not something that was often enjoyed; it was something that had to be done so that families could have their needs met. Lefebvre compares this to people becoming alienated from life or disconnected with life. 

People were in need of a way to step away from the alienation of work. People needed something that helped them feel relaxed, calm, and able to express themselves.  Leisure gives people an opportunity to feel they have freedom, they can express themselves in their own way with out feeling the anxiety or frustration that often comes from going to work. Many people used their leisure time to distract themselves from their hardships and to replace life with a happier illusion. According to Lefebvre, the people that use illusions as a way to get away from life often fall right back into dissatisfaction with life. The people that learn a new skill or get out in nature tend to feel more satisfied with life. They are able to stay present, feel their senses, and learn about themselves.

Everyday life is filled with work, family and leisure. All are very important part of everyday life. Work is important for survival, family is important for support, and leisure is important for people learning about themselves so that they can be more present for work and family. 

Eating, a Simple Form of Consumerism

 Serena Becker

Geog Response Paper

March 23rd, 2021

Eating, a Simple Form of Consumerism

    In the reading The Eaters and The Eaten, the author discusses the most fundamental and human form of consumerism: eating. As with most forms of consumerism, the experience and consumtion varies from class to class. The author makes an argument that eating, having meals in particular, is a completely different experience to the peasant consumer than it is to the rich consumer. 

     The peasant and the bourgeois have two very different views on what the significance of food is and what a meal represents. For the peasant, a meal is a celebration of hard work that is highly centered on the food itself and the act of eating. The author of the article specifically puts emphasis on the rythm and flow of the peasants enjoyment of their meal, everything is focused on eating and valuing the food. The author illustrates this rythmic value of the food,  "the plate is kept throughout the meal, and between dishes it is cleaned with bread which is eaten"(pp. 371). The act of the peasants not allowing things go waste shows an emphasis on the value of food and how it means so much more to them than a simple event that occurs daily. Likewise, when peasant have a feast it is not only a celebration of a rare and special event, but also a celebration of the surplus that provides that feast they enjoy. To the peasant life is seldom focused on avoiding boredom, but instead living in the moment and savoring all that it holds. The bourgeois has a very different approach to mealtimes and feasts. For them, a meal is not significant because of the food but rather because of the social event that the meal offers. The wealthy center their meals on entertainment and cultural reoccurrence. The author puts a special emphasis on the wealthy finding more enjoyment in the drama of the evening rather than the actual food they are consuming. The food is also a form of entertainment for the eaters, not something they need to ever worry about being in need of. 

    I think that this article uses a simlple aspect of life to paint a broad picture of what coonsumerism looks like and how it manifests itself in different forms. On one hand, the consumption of goods is for survival and taken with gratitude, on the other the consumption is done for the sake of entertainment as a way to excape the dreadful boredom that lurks around every corner. As I read the article something that stood out to me particularly what the times at which the different groups of people had their meals. For the hard working peasant they took their most significant meal at the center of their day, surrounded by work. For the Bourgeois, the meal was in the evening when everyone was present to provide discussion and drama. This stood out to me because it shows the value of a meal for a hard working person and how human it is to just enjoy a meal simply for the food and the hardwork that provided that food. The author points out that all food enjoyed represents a job done for the peasant, and I think that view on mealtime is very human. 

Fancy vs Dull

 Vandalyn Hudson

3.23.2021

GEOG Response

Fancy vs Dull

    In the article The Eaters and Eaten, the main argument is that bourgeois approaches food by seeing it as a high value because to them food is a commodity. They do not see food as reposeful and always want to portray their wealth by creating fancy dinners and gatherings. With that being said, during the 19th century, consumerism became a thing within the bourgeois culture. Whereas, peasants viewed food as deserving and work accomplished. Since peasants view it in that matter, they believe that food could be exchangeable meaning that food being eaten by a peasant is to fuel their body due to the labour it took.

    Comparing both parties, peasants are said to be conservative while bourgeois are free. Peasants are very grateful for what they have, and view their lives are understanding. They eat the saved produce and share everything with their family, use the same plates for meals, and feel connected with their meals. Bourgeois culture takes everything for granted and are very privileged people. They have feasts to showcase their wealth and have butlers and share their achievements throughout the feasts. For them, boredom doesn't apply to them as they keep conversations going, but because of the way they go about this, it just means their life is boring. Bourgeois create drama eating because they are unhappy with their life. Peasants are always busy and do not make a huge deal about food because they have a rhythm they follow. Peasants have a certain way they go about their life and do it all as a recurring moment throughout their life to reflect. 

    With that being said, bourgeois and peasants is how the world is still. People who like to feel important in others' lives or even in strangers' lives, they want drama eating. Whereas, the people who feel like they don't deserve a lot even though they are the ones who did everything behind the curtain do not want drama eating. 

Consumerism

 

Mandi Cox

Response Paper

17 March 2021

Consumerism

            In his essay The Eaters and the Eaten, John Berger explains his view of consumerism by describing the distinctions of the value and meaning of food and the ways that food is consumed within two separate cultures. In his paper he claims that “consumerism is intrinsic to nineteenth-century bourgeois culture” (370), and he uses the peasant manner of eating to contrast the bourgeois consumerist eating habits.

            Berger explains that within a bourgeois household or a home typical of a middle-class family, food was used to show social status rather than seen as a necessity. To the bourgeois food is abundant and disposable. They did not have to work for their meals, and you might not be able to tell the difference between a feast and a casual dinner on the table of the bourgeois. On the other hand, the diet of the peasant is seasonal, they would eat what they produced themselves and the food was not abundant nor disposable. A feast was had only when a surplus of food was collected. The peasant simply did not have the options that the bourgeois were spoiled with. I believe that Berger was trying to convey that because of the wealth of the bourgeois, food was made more available to them, but in turn their value of food became inflated.

            When girls had to make their own dresses, the dress that they made was cherished and loved. Today when you walk into a clothing store at a mall you can buy any color, style, or type of dress that you would want, but these dresses hold far less significance than one you would have made yourself.

 

Consumption

 

In “The eaters and the Eaten”, John Berger outlines the socioeconomics of consumption, or, put plainly, the relationships different classes have with food. In Berger's argument, the two distinct classes, the peasants and the bourgeoise, have distinct relationships to food that are defined by their relationships to work, and to each other.  Where the peasant, Berger tells us, might have their most important meal in the middle of the day, the bourgeoise has theirs at the end. This has to do with each group’s relationship to work, the peasant’s life is so defined by work, that their primary meal is defined by it, whereas the life bourgeoise is so luxurious that their primary meal is one of relaxation. So too, these meals enlighten us to each group’s relationship to others. Peasant meals are a social event in which everyone touches and shares everything, a sort of communion. The bourgeoise meal is one in which everything is clean, separate, and untouched, typically waited on by servants. There is also the connection to the material to consider. A peasant meal is often defined by the fruit of his labor, he eats what he grows or produces. The meal of the bourgeoise is an abstract, he has no relationship to what he is eating. 

I quite enjoyed this reading, I thought it was fun and insightful, and also a little snide. It was also useful. When talking about consumption in a global society, it is helpful to consider your relationship to what you are consuming, and how that defines your socioeconomic position. 

Differences in the Lives of Bourgeois and Peasants

 Madison Blackburn

Geography 101

March 16, 2021

The Differences between Peasants and Bourgeois

The readings, “The Eaters and the Eaten” and “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity” were both very interesting and great reads. I personally found the reading, “The Eaters and the Eaten” to be more interesting and felt like our world can relate to it so much. 

Peasants and Bourgeois live completely different lifestyles. Peasants' lives are much more difficult and have more effort put into it. Oftentimes, peasants are more grateful for things and appreciative of even the smallest acts of kindness. Bourgeois pretty much live the luxurious life where they don’t have to put much work in, but still get to enjoy life and get nice things. 

The difference in lives that peasants and bourgeois have, even affects their meals. Peasants are often spending most of their money on food for their family and have little to none left over. They also share silverware and dinner plates sometimes. Another thing they do, is they reuse the same plate for different meals. This is completely the opposite from bourgeois lives. Bourgeois always have nice meals and their food is always the top brand that is worth the most. They often host dinner parties at their large houses and use new plates for every meal and do not share or reuse anything. 

With a life where everything is basically handed to you like bourgeois, you learn to just be accustomed to it. Bourgeois people aren’t appreciative of small acts of kindness or gifts that don’t meet their high standards. They expect the most out of everyone else, but themselves. Peasant people are different, they are appreciative of almost anything and don’t expect things from others. Peasants have to work for their rewards, they aren’t just handed everything. 

This is how our world works. It is unfortunate that there has to be a major difference but there is, and it is everywhere. In conclusion, this reading described how the bourgeois and peasant lives differed, especially when it came to serving meals or having dinner guests.

The Drama of Eating

Jennifer Spatz

Response Paper

3/17/2021

The Drama of Eating

In Jon Berger’s outline, The Eaters and the Eaten, Berger describes the idea around “the consumer society” in which the idea of consumerism and its effect on the economy and technology has been a natural, long coming phenomenon, beginning nearly a century ago. He focuses on the idea of eating, the culture of food, consumption, and how the attitude of eating varies from different people in different countries and from different classes. 

“Bourgeois” is a word used frequently within Berger’s writing. To him, it means the working class and he describes their approach to food as meaningless in a way. He says that their eating mannerisms are less traditional than those of the other classes because they often fall between the concepts of hungry and overfed. They chose their meals based on standard, rather than the significance and value of each meal. He explains that the act of eating is not a fundamental thought to the bourgeois because it holds less value, lacks dire need, and does not hold as much importance as a higher class meal with cultural significance, or necessity for survival. 

Berger speaks of the eating habits of the bourgeois, the way in which they commonly complete each meal. How they typically keep one plate throughout the meal, with each dish and portion within a certain position on the plate, rather than having separate courses in which a higher class is commonly served. He writes about the knives used are worn and used for multiple purposes rather than just for food. Lastly, he discusses how it's a continuous and repetitive cycle, having the same meals, the same familiar food on a rotation. In contrast to the bourgeois, the higher class, and the “peasants,” as Berger calls the lower class, have many different roles in the world of eating. The higher class has theatrical, abstract meals with scenes set up to evoke emotion. The peasant's food represents their work and repose, it's a means of survival and pure necessity. With these different, unconscious ideals on food, Berger’s theory stands that the idea that food eaten is centripetal and not about the food itself is. 

Body Culture

 Response Paper 3/16

GEOG101

Alice Williams

Body Culture

"The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity" by Susan Bordo, discusses the matter of female body image and expectations in culture, and how that has impacted women in our society. Bordo’s perspective shows how women are defined by their physical appearance as objects expected to fit a certain mold, dictated by societal standards. She explains how these expectations have historically been a cause for women to suffer from anorexia, hysteria, and agoraphobia. Bordo shares also how the embodiment of feminine and masculine characteristics also pertains to the anorexic state of societal standards. Bordo states, “The ideal of slenderness, then, and the diet and exercise regimens that have become inseparable from it offer the illusion of meeting, through the body, the contradictory demands of the contemporary ideology of femininity.” This feminine ideal thin body type and desired characteristics are often only achievable by rigorous dieting, exercise or starvation.

In our other reading “The Eaters and the Eaten” by John Berger, the matter of food and the way we eat is compared between peasantry and the bourgeois. The peasant’s way of eating was dependent on the day’s work and harvest, and had very little to do with societal standards. Bourgeois meals were more of a social space, meant to show wealth, often overeating or over indulging in certain foods. Yet, women were expected to have small appetites and eat very little, and were meant to be delicate and in need of a man to provide for them. Their clothing was designed to show a specific feminine figure with a very small waist, and in order to achieve this look women wore bustiers and girdles to cinch their waists.

These readings are related as Berger’s reading discusses changes in eating habits and expectations from food, women and their appearance. Bordo’s reading takes women’s image to the next level addressing the negative impact of physical standards and expectations for women. Women’s appearance in relation to food culture is very relevant today in how women are marketed in ads, movies and media. The constant focus on weight loss, the perfect figure, perfect skin, and being ageless have been common societal standards for women. Whether it be a fad diet, fitness gadget, magical pills or cellulite cream, women are being told they need to do these things to be thinner and look better. Women's health, beauty and weight loss are heavily marketed, money making industries, which no doubt impacts the continuation of these standards.

Peasants and Bourgeois

 

Breckon Lawlar

Cultural Geography

3/16/21

In Eaters and the Eaten by John Berger, he talks about the social difference between classes and how they view food and meals. He talks about two different classes, the bourgeois, which would be the upper class or the rich and the peasants or the working class. 

Berger mentions that the time the two classes eat is different, the bourgeois eat in the evening and the peasants eat mid day. The bourgeois eat in the evening because they have the time and the money to eat whenever they want . It is a way of showing off their money and being a part of that societal class. The peasants eat mid day because they need to work. Eating in their eyes is surviving rather than a luxury. They need to work so that they can eat. While the bourgeois eat because they don’t need to work as much. 

Both of these societal classes contribute to consumerism in different ways. The bourgeois held lots of parties  with which needed to be catered. Therefore they contributed to  consumerism by buying food and supplying various things needed for their parties. The peasants contributed to consumerism in a completely different way; they ate the foods that were cheaper because it was the only thing they could afford. They didn’t need anything fancy like the bourgeois because the only thing they were concerned about was surviving.

Culture of Femininity

Jennifer Burton

Geog 101

3/16/2021

Response #6

Culture on femininity

In the article “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity,” Susan Bordo suggests that today part of our culture is seen through our bodies in what we eat, how we dress, and daily things we do to our bodies to be acceptable in society. Men are not usually thought to struggle with self image, they are generally satisfied with their appearance. Women, on the other hand, are found to asses themselves in a negative light, often feeling they constantly have to improve themselves to be acceptable to others.  As a result of this trend, many women over diet, try to have perfect hair and make up, and often worry about their fashion and dress. The media can be a factor in this problem; it has often portrayed women as sexual beings that are weak, helpless, skinny, always beautiful, and always flawless in everyway. Bordo, in her article, suggested a couple ways women have fought back over time to feel they have some control over this sexualized culture.  They have done so through agoraphobia, anorexia, and striving to be masculine.

Agoraphobia is a fear of places and situations that might cause panic, helplessness, and embarrassment. Bordo suggests that agoraphobia started to escalate in the 1950 and 1960’s when women felt they had to live domestic lives. Women were taught that they were helpless without a man. Their lives revolved around cleaning, sex, and babies. Women felt they needed to look perfect to be attractive to men so they could have the life that the world’s culture taught them they were expected to live.  Agoraphobia according to Bordo is a response to this culture.

Anorexia is when a person stops eating. Bordo feels that anorexia started when women felt their purpose was to care for others and never for themselves, because culture said if they cared for themselves they were selfish. Women had to contain their hunger to serve others. Many women start off dieting, and then take it a step farther, and then farther until they were no longer eating. The women is triumphing over a need; they are exerting willpower over their physical body and over how others feel about them. Bordo suggests that anorexia is a hunger strike against our cultural expectations, a strike for power over one’s self. 

The ”New Man” is a new fashion showing women dressed in men's clothes.  This is done to show confidence but yet still in a sexualized way. Women are trying to fit in in a world run by men.  Some have come to the idea that to fit in they have to act like a man: cool, collected, and emotionally disciplined. The demonstrates that they need no one and are able to do things on their own.

Each attempt, in reality, does nothing more than isolate, weaken, and undermine women. The women doing these things no longer have control, their control is superficial.  Many of the world’s cultures have put women in a place where they feel unrespected and mistreated. Women continue to try to be seen and heard. The right way to do this is still being discovered and for each individual it may look very different.  There is no one right way to to break free from cultural limitations.

 

Peasants and Bourgeois

Theresa Wellington- McGilton 

Professor Simpson 

16 March 2021 

Response Paper 6

Peasants and Bourgeois 

In Eaters and the Eaten, Berger showed how different kinds of people eat in different ways as well as for different reasons. There is a line drawn between the bourgeois and peasants. Bourgeois treat their meals as a kind of entertainment/ enjoyment whereas the peasants treat their meals as something that comes as a result of hard work. 

The bourgeois created a society that they partake in regularly, the consumer society. In a consumer society the primary goal is to consume, eating fancy meals as well as hosting multiple groups of people in your home to “show off” your money. This stemmed from the 19^th century among the French bourgeois who lived for pleasure. They created a society, the consumer society, that depended on their consumption/ other activities revolving around it. 

On the other end of things were the peasants, they are another reason the consumer society was so successful. However, their contribution to the success was for different reasons. Peasants worked as hard as they did so they could survive, so they could eat. They were the primary reason the rich got to stay rich. Peasants didn’t go looking for the most extravagant food they could find, instead they stuck to the foods that were easily accessible to them or otherwise cheap to purchase. This way of eating was different than the bourgeois because they didn’t choose their meals based off of what would make them look the most well off, they chose them based off of what they needed to survive so they could continue to work and survive.

What Satisfies?

 

Jesse Ernst

3/16/21

GEOG 101

What Satisfies?

Eaters and the Eaten (Berger) illustrated how different classes of people eat in entirely different ways and for different reasons.  The bourgeois people are the wealthiest of the upper class, and the peasants are a people group described as those who have very little and seem to be always in survival mode.  People are inherently selfish, and this can be seen clearly when you compare these two classes, for they are “brute contrast between plenty and scarcity” (Berger, p. 370).  There are often the haves and the have nots, in these functional regions. The distinction is not shown by the “hungry and the overfed, but between two traditional views of the value of food… and the act of eating” (Berger, p. 370).

At the peasant’s table a person uses what they have.  Utensils are scarce and no one makes a big deal of it if you have to use the same cup or plate for every meal; often knives and plates are shared.  Food directly “represents physical work” (Berger, p. 371), and people cook what they eat, often in the same room.  The peasant’s life is a “rhythm” (Berger, p. 373) and if he feasts, it is to celebrate a memorable moment; whether the meal is small or great, it is cherished.  

The bourgeois thinks entirely differently about every part of a meal.  They always overeat, never have two types of food on the same plate, and surely never share any utensils and plates.  They often enhance the meal performance, not for the nourishment of the food, but for the “theatrical invitation” (Berger, p. 372) or a fantasy ritual.

In the article The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity, Susan Bordo gives insight on what the popular culture has done to the woman’s body and how women across the globe have become infatuated with the concept of “self modification” (p. 166).  She points out how the burden and constant pressure of “normalizing disciplines of diet, makeup, and dress” (Bordo, p. 166), pushed women into a corner where they felt they could barely live. “At the farthest extremes, the practices of femininity may lead us to utter demoralization, debilitation, and death” (Bordo, p. 166) as evidenced by disorders.  Bordo focuses on an analysis of three disorders women have been susceptible to because of gender oppression.  These three are hysteria, agoraphobia, and anorexia nervosa.   As I was reading this article, my mind thought of the popular 007 movies throughout the years and what the women were stereotyped to be.  This popular culture as seen mostly through social media, magazines, and tv “tells us what clothes, body shape, facial expression, movements, and behavior are required” (Bordo, p.170).

Both articles are similar to each other because the authors looked at the relationship between people and food; however, I think there is a deeper truth.  Culture and people are controlled by people of influence, and those that have that kind of power are separated into two groups: government and popular culture.  These two, whether mixed together or separate, demonstrate a controlling power that is hard to define or pinpoint the exact source; however, the casualties are clearly seen in the ruined lives they leave behind.  

Bourgeois vs Peasants

Stasia Skonberg

Cultural Geography: Dr Richard Simpson

3/15/21

Response Paper 6

Bourgeois vs Peasants

         There is a fine distinction between bourgeois and peasants and how they eat their food. Bourgeois treat their meals as entertainment and enjoyment while peasants treat their meals as a result of hard work.

         In a consumer society, the goal is to consume products. As a bourgeois, the consumer society is one that they created. Eating extravagant meals and hosting different groups of people in your home is showing off the money you can spend just in the name of entertainment. This behavior came out of the 19th century among French bourgeois who lived life lavishly and for pleasure and they created a society in which depends on their consumption and activities surrounding consumption.

         On the other hand, peasants are also the reason for the success of the consumer society. As the backbone of the workforce, peasants worked to live and eat. They were the reason the rich were able to continue on with their lives. “Working class eating habits have less tradition than those of the other two classes because they are far more vulnerable to fluctuations of the economy” (Berger, 370). Unlike their richer neighbors, peasants didn’t eat foods outside of their life and their home. They stuck to food they could easily get, for cheap and because of this their outlook of eating is different. Peasants eat to fuel their bodies and to continue their work. Without a need for entertainment during meals, peasants don’t need drama and entertainment at their dinner table. Without the need to entertain and impress their ways of eating were different.