Food Poverty in the Modern Welfare State - a comparative study of the UK and Sweden
(2024) SIMZ31 20241Graduate School
- Abstract
- This thesis had the aim to investigate how food poverty has been explained in government and civil society texts in Sweden and the UK. This included views on the implications of the concept, as well as the perceived drivers and sufficient measures in preventing the issue. The method first included a thematic analysis by using NVIVO, and later, based on my findings, a discourse analysis. Moreover, I used the capability theory by Amartya Sen to illustrate the elements of food poverty from a theoretical perspective. The results from the study showed that there was a consensus among the texts of food poverty defined as insufficient quality and quantity of food. There were also common agreements on how the issue had increased in recent years... (More)
- This thesis had the aim to investigate how food poverty has been explained in government and civil society texts in Sweden and the UK. This included views on the implications of the concept, as well as the perceived drivers and sufficient measures in preventing the issue. The method first included a thematic analysis by using NVIVO, and later, based on my findings, a discourse analysis. Moreover, I used the capability theory by Amartya Sen to illustrate the elements of food poverty from a theoretical perspective. The results from the study showed that there was a consensus among the texts of food poverty defined as insufficient quality and quantity of food. There were also common agreements on how the issue had increased in recent years and was unequally distributed among different population groups. Such different aspects of food poverty were understood as deprivation of capabilities that prevented achievement of food security as a functioning. Moreover, the texts differed in perceived drivers of food poverty as the civil society organisations argued of weakened social security services as causes of increased food poverty, while the governments remained silent on the matter. Such comparisons contributed to my discussion of the civil society organisations as producers of the discourse on universal welfare, In contrast, the governments of Sweden and UK were described as producers of the discourse of neoliberal austerity. In conclusion, the common agreements on the rise and characteristics of food poverty, but different explaining factors and proposed combating measures, welcomes more future research on the topic. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9156274
- author
- Björsson, Adam LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMZ31 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- capability deprivation, insufficient income, food diets, austerity, food banks, universal welfare, unequal distribution.
- language
- English
- id
- 9156274
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-26 12:33:40
- date last changed
- 2024-06-26 12:33:40
@misc{9156274,
abstract = {{This thesis had the aim to investigate how food poverty has been explained in government and civil society texts in Sweden and the UK. This included views on the implications of the concept, as well as the perceived drivers and sufficient measures in preventing the issue. The method first included a thematic analysis by using NVIVO, and later, based on my findings, a discourse analysis. Moreover, I used the capability theory by Amartya Sen to illustrate the elements of food poverty from a theoretical perspective. The results from the study showed that there was a consensus among the texts of food poverty defined as insufficient quality and quantity of food. There were also common agreements on how the issue had increased in recent years and was unequally distributed among different population groups. Such different aspects of food poverty were understood as deprivation of capabilities that prevented achievement of food security as a functioning. Moreover, the texts differed in perceived drivers of food poverty as the civil society organisations argued of weakened social security services as causes of increased food poverty, while the governments remained silent on the matter. Such comparisons contributed to my discussion of the civil society organisations as producers of the discourse on universal welfare, In contrast, the governments of Sweden and UK were described as producers of the discourse of neoliberal austerity. In conclusion, the common agreements on the rise and characteristics of food poverty, but different explaining factors and proposed combating measures, welcomes more future research on the topic.}},
author = {{Björsson, Adam}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Food Poverty in the Modern Welfare State - a comparative study of the UK and Sweden}},
year = {{2024}},
}