Ulrich Beck’s ‘risk society’ thesis and 
             representations of food and eating in the British 
               general interest women’s magazine sector  
                         1979-2003 
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
                             
             
                   Katherine Elizabeth Wilkinson, BA 
                             
             
                             
                             
                             
                             
             
                 Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham 
                    for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy  
                         November  2005 
             
            Abstract 
            Beck asserts that since the 1950s, broad social transformations have 
            radically altered collective relations. According to Beck, these changes 
            have rendered conventional materialist analyses no longer appropriate 
            to  describe  the  new  times  we  are  living  in.  Beck  links  radical 
            restructuring  of  organisational  forms  with  the  reorientation  of  cultural 
            experience  and  modern  selfhood  as  we  move  from  ‘class’  to  ‘risk’ 
            positions (Beck, 1992: Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2003). This thesis 
            employs a creative operationalisation of the key dimensions of Beck’s 
            predictions, allowing them to be tested as hypotheses using data from 
            the women’s magazine sector. Beck’s idea that cultural organisational 
            practice  is  coming  under  increasing  pressure  to  reorganise  and 
            encompass new principles of social orientation is critically evaluated.  
             
            The magazine titles selected for analysis represent the different socio-
            economic, age and family responsibility status of this sector’s target 
            audience. A longitudinal sample of the representation of food and eating 
            is subject to a textual analysis to catalogue the historical development 
            of these processes. In addition, interviews with editorial staff examine 
            the underlying production principles of mediated selection and framing 
            practice. Empirical evidence is generated to assess whether changing 
            institutional practice is involved in society’s move from one set of social 
            arrangements  to  another.  This  thesis  essentially  evaluates  Beck’s 
            assertion that the forces transforming organisational practice are rooted 
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            in an innovative institutional drive to democratise. The findings suggest 
            that Beck’s explanation is insufficient and that classical materialist and 
            market-driven  accounts  of  institutional  policy  and  practice  remain 
            appropriate. 
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
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                             Acknowledgements 
                 
                I  wish to thank the Leverhulme Trust for funding this project and my 
                supervisors, Professor Robert Dingwall, and Dr Meryl Aldridge for their 
                support and input during the whole PhD process. 
                 
                I would also like to thank Tim Savage from Banner Cross News and all 
                the library staff at all the sites I visited. My appreciation also goes out to 
                the editorial staff that took time out of their busy schedule to talk to me. I 
                must express my sincere gratitude to John for his support with the Excel 
                spread sheets. I also salute Dewi and Gwesyn for the superb stew and 
                lasagne that have seen us through the final stages. Hopefully I will now 
                have more time to widen your recipe repertoire. Many thanks must go to 
                Rhiannon who has been an inspiration in many ways, no more so than 
                for insisting I face the fear and do it anyway. 
                 
                I would like to thank Sheila, Kwang and Chet for forcing me out to keep-
                fit  each  week,  even  if  it  was  the  post-exercise  hot  chocolate  that 
                focussed my thoughts. Harriet, Peter, Duncan, Helen, Anne and Bryan 
                have provided me with endless support over the years, some from over 
                the garden fence and some from the other side of the country. Special 
                thanks  have  to  be  reserved  for  my  mother  Valerie  and  good  friend 
                Hazel without whom I would never have reached this stage with my 
                good sense intact.  
                 
                In loving memory of Lianne and baby Reece 
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