Social movements as agents of change: Fighting intersectional food inequalities, building food as webs of life

Abstract

What does the diversity of social movements and food initiatives tell us about processes of social change? I argue that they offer a productive analytical lens to observe social change because they identify injustices and dynamics of inequalities in the food system and are actively engaged in transforming these. Alternative local food initiatives react to the environmental impacts of globalized food relations; food sovereignty movements highlight class inequalities and power asymmetries in the food system that affect people’s rights to culturally appropriate foodways; food justice movements denounce institutional racism; feminist movements fight persistent gender inequalities from food production to consumption; vegan movements defend animal rights. These are often mapped onto different world regions, with food justice movements more present in the US; food sovereignty movements louder in the Global South; feminist food movements more active in Latin America; and local food movements commonly in the Global North. This article brings together diverse strands of activism and research on social inequalities related to food under the conceptual umbrella of food inequalities. In addition to concept building, it contributes to a sociology of food studies by mapping the geopolitics of knowledge about social change behind the growing mobilization around food issues.

Patterns of Inequalities in Digital Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review

“…and (e) asymmetries in power relations which shape the production of knowledge, problem definitions, and the search for solutions (for an overview, see [27][28][29]). Studies of food justice, food sovereignty, and food regimes analyze and conceptualize food-related inequalities, while many of these focus on gender-related and intersectional inequalities and the efforts of social movements to challenge existing power relations [30][31][32]. Food regime theory, as developed chiefly by [33,34], pays special attention to power effects and class inequalities arising from the "corporate-environmental food regime" [34].…”

Knowing Food: Sustainability Politics, Food Policy Councils and the Co-Production of Knowledge

“…Scholarship on AFOs highlights their collective action by bringing about alternative forms of food production, distribution and consumption (e.g. Forno & Graziano, 2014;Goodman et al, 2012;Huber & Lorenzini, 2022;Motta, 2021;Pascucci et al, 2021). As progressive social movement organisations in the food sector, AFOs are united both in their critique of the contemporary industrialised food system and in their striving for a fundamental, transformative change towards a radically alternative food system.…”

Sustainability, justice and equity in food systems: Ideas and proposals in dispute in Brazil

“…Meanwhile, CSO documents tend to mobilize political action by society and demand government responses to public problems. CSO are considered to be the driving forces of transformation in food system structures while confronting control and power by large corporations (CSM, 2020;Canfield et al, 2021;Motta, 2021).…”