Lunch of a child in a
"Fast-food" outlet
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The advent of
mass consumption society
The wages paid for two hours of work by an
unskilled laborer in the 18th century was enough to buy one kilo of cereals
(food grains). Nowadays, it takes only five minute of work! This extraordinary
evolution of the « real price » of cereals explains the development
of the mass consumption society.
This social change is the result of scientific
development, of a New
agriculture (def.), of an increase in yields, of the
contribution of industrial processes to food production, of international
exchange, of progress in food distribution, and of an increase in purchasing
power (def.) (accelerated by social struggles).
Nevertheless, mass
consumption (def.) means neither equality in food consumption nor satisfactory
nutrition...It means only a larger number of people getting access to the
main food trade markets... « Hypermarkets are the cathedrals
of the consumption society ». Mass consumption is a privilege of
rich societies. ...The « Banquet of Mankind » is not
egalitarian....
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Agropolis-Museum
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