Border Crossing: Bricolage and the Erosion of Categorical Boundaries in French Gastronomy

TLDR

Sociological research has examined strong categorical boundaries, yet little is known about how boundary erosion occurs or its consequences, including the decline of penalties as more peers borrow from rival categories. The study investigates how borrowing from rival categories by high‑status actors weakens categorical boundaries between opposing category pairs. The authors propose that boundary weakening occurs when high‑status actors borrow elements from a rival category, triggering emulation that increases the mean number of borrowed elements and reduces variance, and they examine this process in French gastronomy from 1970 to 1997, where classical and nouvelle cuisines competed for chefs' allegiance. Results support the hypotheses, showing that chefs redrew culinary category boundaries, which critics later recognized, and the study outlines implications for blending and segregation processes.

Abstract

Sociological researchers have studied the consequences of strong categorical boundaries, but have devoted little attention to the causes and consequences of boundary erosion. This study analyzes the erosion of categorical boundaries in the case of opposing category pairs. The authors propose that categorical boundaries weaken when the borrowing of elements from a rival category by high-status actors triggers emulation such that the mean number of elements borrowed by others increases and the variance in the number of elements borrowed declines. It is suggested that penalties to borrowing in the form of downgraded evaluations by critics exist, but decline as the number of peers who borrow increases. The research setting is French gastronomy during the period from 1970 to 1997, when classical and nouvelle cuisines were rival categories competing for the allegiance of chefs. The results broadly support the authors' hypotheses, indicating that chefs redrew the boundaries of culinary categories, which critics eventually recognized. Implications for research on blending and segregating processes are outlined.