An investigation of structural violence in the lived experience of food insecurity

ABSTRACT

In Australia, like many high-income countries, food insecurity is associated with increased risks of chronic diseases, sub-optimal development outcomes in children, and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. Food insecure households employ a range of strategies, including the use of food charity, to help alleviate hunger and meet cost of living pressures. The aim of this paper is to investigate the lived experience of food insecurity for welfare-dependent households, and to examine these experiences within a structural violence framework. Structural violence investigations seek to understand the distal causal factors that can help explain poor health patterns and inequities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with customers (n = 78) of food pantries, soup kitchens, and community development programs (June 2018 to January 2019) in the state of Victoria, Australia. Thematic analysis established evidence of controlling, demeaning and depriving practices in the interactions between the participants and the services and staff at national welfare providers and food charities. The same providers and charities nominally set up to address the exact situations in which participants found themselves. The findings of this study suggest that food and social services are an on-the-ground setting through which structural violence is enacted and experienced.

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecurity
• structural violence
• food banks
• welfare policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the work of research assistant Holly Beswick who conducted several interviews and assisted with recruitment and project management.

Disclosure statement

Authors have volunteered, collaborated and undertaken paid work with food charities. No other COI to declare.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to ongoing research and planned further analysis but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.