Overview

Stakeholders in the organic food movement agree that it has the potential to transform our food system, and yet there is little consensus about what this transformation should look like. Tracing the history of the organic food sector, Michael A. Haedicke charts the development of two narratives that do more than simply polarize the organic debate, they give way to competing institutional logics. On the one hand, social activists contend that organics can break up the concentration of power that rests in the hands of a big, traditional agribusiness. Alternatively, professionals who are steeped in the culture of business emphasize the potential for market growth, for fostering better behemoths. Independent food store owners are then left to reconcile these ideas as they construct their professional identities and hone their business strategies. Drawing on extensive interviews and unique archival sources, Haedicke looks at how these groups make sense of their everyday work. He pays particular attention to instances in which individuals overcome the conflicting narratives of industry transformation and market expansion by creating new cultural concepts and organizational forms. At once an account of the sector's development and an analysis of individual choices within it, Organizing Organic provides a nuanced account of the way the organic movement continues to negotiate ethical values and economic productivity.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael A. Haedicke
Publisher:   Stanford University Press
Imprint:   Stanford University Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.481kg
ISBN:  

9780804795906

ISBN 10:   0804795908
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   18 May 2016
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Contents and AbstractsIntroduction: Visions of Transformation and Growth: Institutional Logics and Social Processes in the Organic Sector chapter abstractThis chapter introduces the transformative and expansionary logics that exist in the organic sector, using both illustrative vignettes and formal exposition, and explains the book's twin goals of (1) understanding the development of these logics during the sector's history and (2) examining the relationship between these logics and the activities of sector participants. It locates this project in the context of scholarship about institutional logics and discusses the book's relationship to other literature about organic farming and the organic movement. It also explains how the concepts of interpretive framing and organizational/institutional work provide insight into links between contradictory logics and social processes of conflict and compromise. Finally, the chapter provides a summary of key arguments and a plan of the book as a whole. 1Breaking Ground for a New Agriculture: Transformation and Expansion during the Organic Sector's Early Years chapter abstractThis chapter examines the origins of the transformative and expansionary logics in the organic sector and makes the argument that ideas and practices related to both market expansion and sociocultural change were present during the sector's early years. It discusses a number of cultural influences that shaped organic farming between approximately 1945 and 1975, including advocacy for alternative agriculture and natural foods, the 1960s counterculture and ecology movements, and mainstream understandings of efficient market organization. The chapter also contends that widespread conflict did not occur, despite the existence of divergent cultural understandings, for two reasons: (1) the organic sector's decentralized character and (2) the tendency of advocates to downplay tensions between the divergent understandings. These arguments are supported by examinations of farmers' groups and retailing arrangements and by analysis of the work of the organic advocate J.I. Rodale and other writers in the magazine Organic Gardening and Farming. 2Stabilizing the Market, Dividing the Field: Federal Regulation, Field Settlement, and the Emergence of Conflict chapter abstractThis chapter discusses the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) of 1990 and the subsequent development of the National Organic Program (NOP), which established federal rules for the organic trade. It argues that OFPA and the NOP sparked conflict in the organic sector by prioritizing market growth and by marginalizing transformative ideas and practices. The chapter explains how problems associated with the expanding organic trade and a disruptive food scare created the conditions for OFPA's passage. It also examines how sector members worked at the legislative and institutional levels to bring democratic arrangements associated with the transformative logic into the regulations. These efforts resulted in a stakeholder advisory group known as the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), but they did not prevent dissident organic foods farmers and consumers from mobilizing around frames that questioned the legitimacy of the federal regulations. 3The Rise of Big Organic: Market Convergence and the Elaboration of the Expansionary Vision chapter abstractThe finalization of the National Organic Program (NOP) accelerated the growth of the organic market. This chapter unpacks related changes that have occurred in the post-NOP period. First, it describes the erosion of economic and organizational partitions between the organic foods sector and the mainstream food industry through a process that is labeled convergence, paying special attention to organic foods retailing. It then argues that newly arrived sector members have transposed cultural schemas from the mainstream business world to organize their work in the organic sector. This has elaborated expansionary understandings by (1) providing a moral justification for market growth, (2) contributing to the marginalization of countercultural businesses and critical activists through boundary work, and (3) relegating consumers to the role of purchasers by encouraging their exclusion from discussions related to organic regulations. 4The Politics of Organic Integrity: Reasserting Transformative Ideals from the Margins chapter abstractThe organic foods market's growth has fueled the efforts of activist groups who reassert transformative understandings of organic farming. This chapter discusses how activists frame market growth and convergence as a corporate takeover of the organic foods sector. It explains how this frame provides a means to link specific regulatory issues, including those related to synthetic ingredients, antibiotics, livestock management, and others to the larger issue of organic integrity. It identifies specific obstacles that activists face when they try to influence the federal organic regulations, and it also discusses how they use this frame to mobilize consumers to participate in boycott campaigns. Finally, it describes an alternative, less contentious response to market growth and convergence: the decision of some small-scale farmers to exit the sector and organize alternative certification programs that go ""beyond organic."" 5Caught in the Middle: Negotiating Compromise in Organic Co-op Stores chapter abstractThis chapter analyzes how co-op stores, which were created as part of the 1970s counterculture, have navigated the organic sector's shift in the direction of market expansion. It argues that the history of co-cops and their position in the organic market create ambivalence about their activities and priorities, and that this ambivalence also appears in co-op leaders' assessments of the organic sector's convergence with the mainstream food industry. The chapter also documents how members of co-ops have negotiated hybrid organizational arrangements and practices that strive for compromise between the goals of market growth and systemic change. Several examples of hybrid arrangements are discussed, including (1) the unification of co-ops into a democratically run ""virtual chain,"" (2) flexible store policies related to merchandising and product selection, and (3) education programs that encourage consumers to think reflexively about the products they buy. 6Institutional Logics and Social Processes Revisited: Insights from the Organic Sector chapter abstractThis chapter reviews the book's major arguments and discusses the study's implications for understanding multi-institutional fields (in general) and the future of the organic foods sector (in particular). Four arguments regarding multi-institutional fields are advanced: (1)scholars should examine moral and emotional, as well as cognitive, aspects of logics, (2)multi-institutional fields encourage reflexive creativity, (3)identifying social mechanisms will increase knowledge about how conflict emerges (or fails to emerge) in multi-institutional fields, and (4)consumers may play a minor role in guiding the development of ethical markets. Regarding the organic sector's future, the chapter argues that the expansionary logic's dominance has yielded important gains, but that attention should be paid to revitalizing democratic arrangements and practices.

Reviews

After so many books taking a political economy approach to agriculture or a cultural history approach to food, it's rewarding to see the organic food sector through fresh conceptual eyes. -- E. Melanie DuPuis * <i>American Journal of Sociology </i> * Michael Haedicke deftly tells the story of the organic food industry, which spans farming, co-ops, and the trendy for-profit grocers that are taking over what was once an idealistic niche. Rich with detail but also broad insights, Haedicke skillfully integrates the literatures on food studies, social movements, organizations, and economic sociology. A marvelous contribution from an important new voice. -- Tim Hallett * Indiana University * Haedicke's work provides a nuanced examination of the organic sector's compromises and contradictions. Drawing from a broad swath of empirical data, the reader learns why something like an 'organic Twinkie' can be seen as both a market accomplishment and a symbol of Big Organics' moral failings. This book enriches our understanding of the cultural and economic evolution of organic markets, while shedding new light on old tensions of movements versus markets. -- Josee Johnston * University of Toronto * Michael Haedicke's superb analysis of the organic foods sector complicates popular accounts of good guy farmers and activists versus bad guy grocery conglomerates. He demonstrates how social and economic factors compel members from both sides of the movement to navigate their divergent understandings of purity and profit. This book will be of great interest to social scientists and people working in the organics field alike. -- Amy Binder * Amy Binder, University of California-San Diego and author of <i>Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives</i> * Working at the intersection of social movements and organizational theory, Haedicke has fashioned a rich, innovative portrait of the history and contemporary dynamics of the organic sector. Anyone interested in organic farming or the dynamics of strategic action fields will want to read this book. -- Doug McAdam * Stanford University * In Organizing Organic: Conflict and Compromise in an Emerging Market, Michael Haedicke provides a well-written, informative historical overview and analysis of the development of the organic food industry....This analysis, rooted in organizational theory, is sophisticated and original....[G]raduate students and more advanced scholars interested in organizational theory as applied to this important social and economic development will find great value in Organizing Organic. -- Brian K. Obach * <i>Contemporary Sociology</i> * A fascinating book. Although the organic food sector emerged from a call to transform agribusiness, Haedicke intriguingly documents how this movement was itself intertwined with expansionary, market-building activities. Using an institutional logics approach, Haedicke masterfully traces a fundamental tension that fueled both conflict and compromise as organics went mainstream. -- Michael Lounsbury * University of Alberta * Haedicke covers an impressive breadth of theoretical concepts, provides lucid explanations of each one, and uses them adeptly to explain the market's emergence and growth....Organizing Organic is of tremendous value for its rich and compelling illustrations of important and wide-ranging ideas. It is a worthwhile and engaging read not only for those interested in cultural and ethical markets but also for any organizational theorist interested in processes of social change. -- Mary Besharov * <i>Organization Studies</i> * Michael Haedicke's book, Organizing Organic: Conflict and Compromise in an Emerging Market, is a welcome contribution to the study of the organic sector, which has seen tremendous growth since the late twentieth century...Haedicke has persuasively argued for the importance of emotional and cultural elements of institutional logics to enable compromise within a sector characterized by conflict. -- Joshua L. Carreiro * <i>Social Forces</i> *

Michael Haedicke's superb analysis of the organic foods sector complicates popular accounts of good guy farmers and activists versus bad guy grocery conglomerates. He demonstrates how social and economic factors compel members from both sides of the movement to navigate their divergent understandings of purity and profit. This book will be of great interest to social scientists and people working in the organics field alike. Amy Binder, Amy Binder, University of California-San Diego and author of Becoming Right: How Campuses Shape Young Conservatives

Michael Haedicke deftly tells the story of the organic food industry, which spans farming, co-ops, and the trendy for-profit grocers that are taking over what was once an idealistic niche. Rich with detail but also broad insights, Haedicke skillfully integrates the literatures on food studies, social movements, organizations, and economic sociology. A marvelous contribution from an important new voice. Tim Hallett, Indiana University

Author Information

Michael A. Haedicke is Associate Professor of Sociology at Drake University.

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