TY - JOUR

T1 - Learning from the past?

T2 - An exploratory study of familial food socialization processes using the lens of emotional reflexivity

AU - Kharuhayothin, Tanyatip

AU - Kerrane, Benedict Andrew

N1 - This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

PY - 2018/11/12

Y1 - 2018/11/12

N2 - This paper aims to explore the parental role in children’s food socialization. More specifically, it explores how the legacy of the past (i.e. experiences from the participant’s own childhood) work to inform how they, in turn, socialize their own children within the context of food, drawing on theories of consumer socialization, intergenerational influence and emotional reflexivity.To seek further understanding of how temporal elements of intergenerational influence persist (through the lens of emotional reflexivity), the authors collected qualitative, interpretative data from thirty parents from the UK using a combination of existential-phenomenological interviews, photo-elicitation techniques and accompanied grocery shopping trips (observational interviews).Through intergenerational reflexivity, parents are found to make a conscious effort to either ‘sustain’ or ‘disregard’ particular food practices learnt from the previous generation with their children (abandoning or mimicking the behaviours of their own parents within the context of food socialization). The factors contributing to the disregarding of food behaviours (new influencer, self-learning and resistance to parental power) emerge. A continuum of parents is identified, ranging from the ‘traditionalist’ to ‘improver’ and the ‘revisionist’.By adopting a unique approach in exploring the dynamic of intergenerational influence through the lens of emotional reflexivity, this study highlights the importance of the parental role in socializing children about food; and how intergenerational reflexivity helps inform parental food socialization practices. The intergenerational reflexivity of parents is, thus, deemed to be crucial in the socialization process.

AB - This paper aims to explore the parental role in children’s food socialization. More specifically, it explores how the legacy of the past (i.e. experiences from the participant’s own childhood) work to inform how they, in turn, socialize their own children within the context of food, drawing on theories of consumer socialization, intergenerational influence and emotional reflexivity.To seek further understanding of how temporal elements of intergenerational influence persist (through the lens of emotional reflexivity), the authors collected qualitative, interpretative data from thirty parents from the UK using a combination of existential-phenomenological interviews, photo-elicitation techniques and accompanied grocery shopping trips (observational interviews).Through intergenerational reflexivity, parents are found to make a conscious effort to either ‘sustain’ or ‘disregard’ particular food practices learnt from the previous generation with their children (abandoning or mimicking the behaviours of their own parents within the context of food socialization). The factors contributing to the disregarding of food behaviours (new influencer, self-learning and resistance to parental power) emerge. A continuum of parents is identified, ranging from the ‘traditionalist’ to ‘improver’ and the ‘revisionist’.By adopting a unique approach in exploring the dynamic of intergenerational influence through the lens of emotional reflexivity, this study highlights the importance of the parental role in socializing children about food; and how intergenerational reflexivity helps inform parental food socialization practices. The intergenerational reflexivity of parents is, thus, deemed to be crucial in the socialization process.

KW - Family

KW - Children

KW - Parents

KW - Intergenerational influence

KW - Emotional reflexivity

KW - Food socialization

U2 - 10.1108/EJM-10-2017-0694

DO - 10.1108/EJM-10-2017-0694

M3 - Journal article

VL - 52

SP - 2312

EP - 2333

JO - European Journal of Marketing

JF - European Journal of Marketing

SN - 0309-0566

IS - 12

ER -