The subproject of the DFG-funded research programme "Shaping Future Society" (SaFe) investigates how societal futures in the field of nutrition emerge and are negotiated in collaborative practices. The aim is to identify the conditions for stable structures of sustainable food systems in forward-looking, community-organised forms of production and consumption. Using a mixed-methods approach, alternative practices of nutrition are empirically researched. The research impulse "SaFe" comprises a total of six subprojects at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and aims, among other things, to develop research structures at Fulda University of Applied Sciences.
The subproject investigates how different futures in the food sector are created, negotiated and implemented through community practices. The project addresses crises in modern food systems that are characterised by unsustainable production and consumption practices and the resulting conflicts. Alternatives such as solidarity-based agriculture or cooperatives will be analysed to determine the extent to which they have the potential to transform food systems in a sustainable way. The empirical research will work out which current production and consumption practices are problematised, which forms of alternatives react to them and how they interact with communitarisation. In addition, it will ask which actors support the alternatives and which resistances arise.
The subproject is based on the theoretical basics of social sciences nutrition research, sociological practice theories and innovation research. The research design combines qualitative and quantitative methods in a mixed methods approach. The entire food value chain from production to distribution to consumption is analysed. Starting with a document analysis, ethnographic case studies will be conducted to gain a deep insight into the communalisation processes of alternative food practices. Multi-stage empirical surveys will be conducted, including qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys: The Delphi method will be used to interview experts in the production sector, and a representative population survey will be conducted to determine the acceptance of and connection to alternative food practices in various social milieus.
Prof. Dr. Tonia Ruppenthal
Business Administration • Management • Marketing
