Special Issue of Human Relations
Call for papers: Food, Work and Organization
The Editors of human relations intend to publish a
special issue of the journal on the subject of Food,
Work and Organization.
Guest editors: Rob B Briner (Birkbeck College) and
Andrew Sturdy (Warwick Business School)
Eating and drinking have long been recognised as being
of sociological and psychological significance and yet
have been largely neglected in the context of paid
work and organisations. Food, drink and their
consumption can play important roles for individuals,
groups, organizations and communities, both reflecting
and shaping numerous social and organizational
processes such as: identity, work-non-work
relationships, socialization, status, power, intimacy,
deviance, the body, sexuality, organizational
boundaries, and so on.
Empirical and theoretical papers are invited from any
social science discipline or mix of disciplines
including sociology, folklore studies, organizational
psychology, history, anthropology and organizational
behaviour. Papers should make a contribution by
showing ways in which food, drink and their
consumption are relevant to, and elaborate, an
understanding of social and organizational processes
and/or theories.
Although the study of food and drink industries and
organisations is important, in this issue, we are
particularly concerned with the acts of eating and
drinking. For example, the relationships between food,
work and organization can be observed in a number of
contexts such as:
Food occasions and events
� Coffee/tea/cigarette breaks; People bringing in
their own meals; Celebratory food, drinks and parties;
The Business lunch, dinner and breakfast; The
conference buffet; After-work and other drinking;
Going out to get lunch for other people; Asking work
colleagues out for dinner or lunch; Shopping at
lunchtime for food to take home (and companies that
deliver groceries to the office); Food and drink for
visitors and in meetings
Food technologies and artefacts
� Drinking water machines, water coolers
Vending machines (drinks, crisps, etc); Coffee and tea
'schemes' at work (like who buys the milk, keeps the
fridge clean, and clean tea towels, who doesn't pay?);
Food/drink related equipment - microwaves, kettles,
sandwich toasters, corkscrews, plates, tea mugs,
fridges; The office kitchen - the sink, cleaning, etc;
Canteens and food on the shopfloor, farm etc
Foods and drinks
� Chewing gum; Office snacks; Sweets and candy; Left
over food from visitors being put in public places for
everyone to eat; Foodstuffs brought back from holiday
for 'the office' - chocolates, local delicacies, etc;
Food as reward
People in organizations and food
� People on diets; People fasting or eating particular
foods for religious or other reasons; Influences of
food on behaviour; Meals and group dynamics and
processes
The above list is not intended to be exhaustive and we
welcome submissions which explore other aspects of
eating and drinking in organisations. Please address
any initial queries about any intended submissions to
both the guest editors.
Contributors should note the following:
� This call is open and competitive, and the submitted
papers will be blind reviewed in the normal way.
� Submitted papers must be based on original material
not under consideration by any other journal or
outlet.
� The Editors will select five papers to be included
in the special issue, but other papers submitted in
this process may be published in other issues of the
journal.
The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2006.
Authors will be notified by the end of December if
their papers have not been accepted for review. Those
accepted will be sent for blind peer review in the
journal's standard way. The special issue is intended
for publication in the second half of 2007.
It is hoped to be able to hold a workshop at the
University of Warwick in the summer of 2006 for those
with draft papers to present and discuss. Some UK
travel expenses may be available for this.
Submissions of papers, to be considered for this
special issue should be submitted online at
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/submit.htm.
Please note: Manuscripts should include the title of
this special issue, �Food, work and organisation� at
the top of the title page.
Rob B Briner
Department of Organizational Psychology
Birkbeck College
University of London
Malet Street
LONDON
WC1E 7HX
UK
Andrew Sturdy
IROB
Warwick Business School
The University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL
UK
r.briner@bbk.ac.uk
Phone +44 (0)20 7631 6755
Fax +44 (0)20 7631 6750
Mobile +44 (0)7968 748470
Andrew.Sturdy@wbs.ac.uk
Phone +44 (0)24 7652 4658
____________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Movies: Check out the Latest Trailers, Premiere Photos and full Actor Database.
http://au.movies.yahoo.com