Abstract

The dissertation examines everyday eating situations among young people and places young people as active (co-)creators at the center of the investigation. While previous studies have primarily addressed institutionalized contexts such as family or school, this research takes a lifeworld-oriented approach that addresses young people as subjects who independently shape eating situations in different everyday settings (cf. Thiersch et al., 2012).

Eating situations are not merely understood as a framework for food intake, but as social and cultural practices in which negotiation processes, relationship constellations, and distinction strategies become visible. For example, family meals reveal “the sociological construct of the meal” (Simmel, cited in Kramme & Rammstedt, 2001, p. 140), which can offer young people stability and orientation, while in peer contexts, flexible, creative, and often snack-oriented practices refer to collective belonging and social negotiation (Shaw et al., 2023; Kaufmann, 2006; Setzwein, 2004). Even the seemingly casual act of eating alone has individual significance (cf. Kaufmann, 2006; Bartsch, 2011).

Methodologically, the dissertation is based on an ethnographic design with observational participation (cf. Hitzler & Gothe, 2015). The research design not only enables an understanding of the situational logic of individual meals, but also, by accompanying young people in their everyday lives, an investigation of the social dynamics in which young people actively (co-)shape eating situations.

The topic can be distinguished from deficit-oriented discourses. Eating situations are outlined as a reflection of young people's lives and identity work (cf. Hurrelmann & Quenzel, 2022), so that the dissertation offers theoretical and empirical impulses for a change of perspective on meaningful practices in the context of everyday life.

References

Bartsch, S. (2011): Familienmahlzeiten aus Sicht der Jugendlichen, in: Schönberger, G., Methfessel, B. (Hrsg.): „Mahlzeiten“, VS.

Hitzler, R., Gothe, M. (2015): Zur Einleitung: Methodologisch-methodische Aspekte ethno graphischer Forschungsprojekte, in: Hitzler, R., Gothe, M. (Hrsg.): Ethnographische Erkundungen: Methodische Aspekte Aktueller Forschungsprojekte, Springer, S. 9-18.

Hurrelmann, K., Quenzel, G. (2022): Lebensphase Jugend: Eine Einführung in die sozialwissenschaftliche Jugendforschung, 14. überarbeitete Auflage, Beltz Juventa.

Kaufmann, J.-C. (2006): Kochende Leidenschaft: Soziologie vom Kochen und Essen, UVK-Verl.-Ges.

Kramme, R., Rammstedt, A. (2001): Georg Simmel-Aufsätze und Aushandlungen 1908-1918, Band I, Suhrkamp.

Setzwein, M. (2004): Ernährung - Körper - Geschlecht: Zur sozialen Konstruktion von Geschlecht im kulinarischen Kontext, Vol. 199, VS.

Shaw, S. et al. (2023): The interplay between social and food environments on UK adolescents' food choices: implications for policy, Health Promotion International, 38 (4), S. 1-13.

Thiersch et al. (2012): Lebensweltorientierte Soziale Arbeit, in: Thole, W. (Hrsg.): Grundriss Soziale Arbeit: Ein einführendes Handbuch, 4. Auflage, VS, S. 175-198.