The Heterogeneity of Authenticity Arguments in a New Craft Market Sector : The Case of Microbrewery in Belgium
(2023) XX ISA World Congress of Sociology — Location: Melbourne, Australia (25.June.2023)
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- Abstract
- The recent rise in the number of small artisanal breweries can be seen as an emblematic case of the resurgence of craft in modern economies. The microbrewery segment usually refers to the revalorization of qualities associated with the rediscovery of ancient flavours, the diversity of tastes and the search for quality in process and products. Boltanski & Esquerre (2017) have characterised this evolution by the term ‘enrichment economy’, emphasising the way in which certain products acquire value through narratives that emphasise their intrinsic preciousness, authenticity and difference from standard mass-produced goods. Our contribution proposes to complete the idea supported by these authors that contemporary capitalism relies on new lodes of wealth, i.e. on new forms of valorisation differing from the standard form that has been the dominant way of making profit since the industrial revolution. Our work is thus part of research in the sociology of markets which proposes to study the processes of construction of the qualities of goods (Beckert & Musselin, 2013), and particularly of singularities (Karpik, 2007) whose valuation is based on narratives of authenticity which show the producer and the processes behind the product (Thurnell-Read, 2019). We propose to highlight the dynamics, which have not received much attention in this literature, of articulation, friction and opposition between forms of valorisation and arguments of authenticity within a market segment characterized by its difference from a standard mass production market. We use in-depth interviews with Belgian microbrewers (n = 35) to analyze the way in which narratives of authenticity come together to form both specific production logics and lines of distinction and opposition between microbreweries that lead to a new specific structuring of Belgian brewery production.
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Delperdange, P. (2023). The Heterogeneity of Authenticity Arguments in a New Craft Market Sector : The Case of Microbrewery in Belgium. XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, Australia. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/103689