Doctoral Dissertation Research: Politics and Meanings of Genetically Modified Foods in the United States, France and Japan

这篇论文试图解释美国、法国和日本关于转基因食品的不同政策发展。基于对转基因食品的定义（例如，它们是否以及如何被定义为与传统食品不同）构成政策取向的重要组成部分的观察，本文试图确定这三个国家对转基因食品的不同理解，并调查这些国家不同的理解形成并与政策发展相互作用的过程。它的问题是：1)当今各国的政策框架如何定义转基因食品？2)今天这三个国家围绕转基因食品的公开辩论有什么重要差异？3)政策和公众话语中对转基因食品的不同理解是如何产生的？4)这些不同的理解是如何塑造政策发展的，又如何被政策发展所塑造的？这个比较项目为每个国家使用了各种数据和方法：回顾新闻和历史报道，以及行业、非政府组织和政府文件，以构建历史叙事；对大众媒体对转基因食品问题的报道、相关法律、政策声明和政策辩论进行内容分析，以审查转基因食品的定义和框架，以及这些定义和框架如何随着时间的推移而产生和变化；并对主要参与者进行深入访谈，以补充我的历史叙述，并以比内容分析更微妙的方式探索不同参与者对转基因食品的理解。该项目通过明确探索文化和政治如何相互作用，有望在文化和政治社会学方面做出理论贡献。它解决了一个仍然不清楚的过程，即当政治行为者努力推进他们的辩论条件时，某些含义会主导其他含义。它还研究了话语如何以及在多大程度上影响政治和政策发展。此外，该项目承诺通过促进对三个主要工业化国家围绕转基因食品的政策形成过程的理解，做出更广泛的社会贡献。鉴于农业生物技术的应用是一个高度争议的全球性问题，对粮食供应系统的未来有着巨大的影响，这些见解应该证明是有价值的，因为它们有助于我们评估当前的政策框架并指导未来的政策制定。

The dissertation seeks to explain divergent policy developments regarding genetically modified (GM) foods in the Unites States, France and Japan. Building on an observation that definitions of GM foods (e.g., whether and how they are defined as different from traditional foods) constitute crucial components of policy orientations, the dissertation seeks to identify different understandings of GM foods in the three countries, and to investigate the processes through which these nationally distinct understandings emerged and interacted with policy developments. It asks: 1) How are GM foods defined in each country's policy framework today? 2) What are the important differences in the terms of public debate surrounding GM foods among the three countries today? 3) How have these different understandings of GM foods in both policy and public discourse emerged? and 4) How have these different understandings shaped, and been shaped by, policy developments? This comparative project uses a variety of data and methods for each country: a review of journalistic and historical accounts, as well as industry, NGO and government documents, to construct historical narratives; content analysis of mass media coverage of the GM food issue, relevant laws, policy statements and policy debates to examine how GM foods are defined and framed, and how such definitions and frames emerged and changed over time; and in-depth interviews with key actors to both supplement my historical narratives and explore various actors' understandings of GM foods in a more subtle way than is possible with content analysis. The project promises theoretical contributions in cultural and political sociology by explicitly exploring how culture and politics interact. It addresses the still unclear processes through which certain meanings become dominant over others as political actors struggle to advance their terms of debate. It also examines how and to what extent discourse matters to politics and policy developments. Furthermore, the project promises broader social contributions by facilitating understandings of policy formation processes surrounding GM foods in three leading industrialized nations. Given that the application of agricultural biotechnology is a highly contested global issue that holds immense implications for the future of the food supply system, such insights should prove valuable as they help us assess the current policy frameworks and guide future policymaking.