Revisiting the Importance of Detachment in the Dynamics of Competition

Abstract

In this paper, we adopt the framework of analysis of the economy of qualities [Callon, M., Méadel, C. & Rabeharisoa, V. (2002) ‘The economy of qualities’, Economy and Society, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 194–217] to describe the sales and marketing practices of a French farm supply company whose products have uncertain characteristics and disputed effects. We show that this uncertainty leads sales staff of the company to develop an argument designed to generate attachments but also, and even more importantly, detachments. We also show that these detachments and attachments do not just concern the farmer, the company and its products. To understand the competitive dynamics involved here, it is also necessary to focus on the associations that are broken and established with natural entities, actors in the supply chain, institutions of agricultural science and conceptions of the farming profession.

KEYWORDS:

• actor-network theory
• agriculture
• detachment
• qualities
• market
• uncertainty

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank Camille Amet for her support in data collection, Antoine Bernard de Raymond, Alexandre Mallard, Antoine Roger and the Journal of Cultural Economy reviewers for their comments and advice, and Peter Hamilton for its translation.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

FUNDING

This work was supported by the CARPE inter-unit network, SAD Department of INRA.

Notes

† This is a revised version of an article initially published in French (Goulet, F. & Le Velly, R. (2013) ‘Comment vendre un produit incertain? Activités de détachement et d'attachement d'une firme d'agrofourniture’, Sociologie du travail, vol. 55, no. 3, 369–386).

1. We have considered using the terms ‘controversial products’ to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘uncertain products’ concept that Callon has clearly stated. We have decided to use these latter terms because we wanted to address directly the question of the uncertainty of the quality of the products. Referring to ‘controversial products’ could also have been misleading as this expression has been mainly used in market research to refer to socially sensitive products such as alcohol, cigarettes or contraceptives (Waller et al. 2005).

2. These techniques, based on the abandonment of tillage and deep ploughing, have the particular function of reducing soil degradation and stimulating biological activity. A major difficulty limiting their wider use by farmers is the lack of knowledge available to implement them (Goulet 2013).

3. This is a sarcastic allusion to the commonplace use of years of higher education following the baccalauréat diploma in French job advertising: for instance, Bac+5 is the equivalent of a master's degree.

Additional information

Ronan Le Velly (author to whom correspondence should be addressed) Montpellier SupAgro, UMR Innovation, 2, place Pierre Viala, Cedex 2, F-34060 Montpellier Cedex 2, France.

Frédéric Goulet, CIRAD, UMR Innovation, 73 avenue Jean-François Breton, F-34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France