How to Construct a Sociology of Wine: On Imperialisms, Ethnicities, Genders

Abstract

Many sociologists drink wine, but hardly any write about it, at least for professional purposes. Sociological studies of wine are few in number, even in historically wine-producing countries, and wine matters remain ceded to other disciplines. The scholarly field of the ‘sociology of wine’ remains inchoate. Yet wine is an eminently sociological research object. This paper sets out one possible way of developing the sociology of wine. It proposes a general historical sociology vocabulary that identifies the interlocking issues of class, ethnicity, and gender relations and inequalities. It does so particularly within imperial/colonial and post-imperial/ colonial social contexts. This is because in all its 8,000-year history, the major factors in the structuring of how humans deal with wine are imperial power and colonial expansion, which still strongly shape wine-related phenomena today, as do long-standing gender biases.