Towards the end of Chapter 4 Mintz claims that "Tobacco, sugar, and tea were the first objects within capitalism that conveyed with their use the complex idea tat one could become different by consuming differently (Mintz, 185)." This is typified by his description in the beginning of chapter 4 of how consumption of sugar by the working class in Great Britain began to become a necessity in starting in the mid-19th century. Mintz tells about the rituals and meanings of the consumption of sugar which he details in the previous chapter. In this chapter however instead of being concerned with the actual act of consuming sugar Mintz is more interested in the meaning behind the act. He outlines the processes of extensification wherein an individual or group of people, in this case more specifically the working class in Britain, create new uses and meanings of consumption of a particular commodity (sugar) removed from practices of the privileged (Mintz, 152). This process usually follows the act of intensification where consumers copy the practices of others of a higher social status (Mintz, 152).
Meanings changed for the consumption of sugar around the working class when sugar became even more important to the poor than it was to the rich. New consumers created new meanings and symbolism in sugar. "People agreeing on what something is is not always the same as them agreeing on what it means" claims Mintz(158). Symbols are given their own internal meanings by the new working class consumers based on historically acquired and cultural specific arbitrary basis. These symbols are not always the actual commodity itself however. They can be for example rice symbolizing fertility or tea hospitality but these symbols can also be events of consumption such as a meal. These symbols create patterns of every day existence and meaning.
These everyday meanings were not created in a vacuum though. As mentioned above all the meanings are created based on historical explanation. Sugar was given its meaning through political struggle in the very foundation of British society. The consumption of sugar represented intraclass struggles for profit and a change in the world economy's view of production (Mintz, 185). Mintz argues that a study of the "power" in sugar must look at these internal meanings along with the broader outside meanings of the consumption of sugar such as the political entities of the colonies (173). Both views are equally important in discovering how sugar gained the place it holds today.
This is a very good discussion of how Mintz approaches meaning and symbolism of sugar through a historically grounded perspective. It is important, as you note, to underscore that sugar may have not had the same meaning for everyone or that the meaning is always explicit. (In other words, a working class person consuming sugar with their tea is not necessarily thinking about helping the plantation owners in the Caribbean. But this second meaning is something one can observe through historical and cultural analysis.) You are also right to conclude that Mintz thinks that both inside meaning and external meaning can help to explain how a commodity such as sugar becomes such an important item of consumption and of cultural ritual.
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