Published
Jun 13, 2023Page count
214 pagesISBN
978-1447358558Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Mar 2, 2022Page count
214 pagesISBN
978-1447358541Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Mar 2, 2022Page count
214 pagesISBN
978-1447358565Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Mar 2, 2022Page count
214 pagesISBN
978-1447358565Imprint
Policy Press
Hunger, Whiteness and Religion in Neoliberal Britain
On Transforming Society:
4 uncomfortable realities of food charity: Power, religion, race and cash
Exploring why food aid exists and the deeper causes of food poverty, this book addresses neglected dimensions of traditional food aid and food poverty debates.
It argues that the food aid industry is infused with neoliberal governmentality and shows how food charity upholds Christian ideals and white privilege, maintaining inequalities of class, race, religion and gender. However, it also reveals a sector that is immensely varied, embodying both individualism and mutual aid.
Drawing upon lived experiences, it documents how food sharing amid poverty fosters solidarity and gives rise to alternative modes of food redistribution among communities. By harnessing these alternative ways of being, food aid and communities can be part of movements for economic and racial justice.
"... an important addition to current scholarship [which] adds significant weight to existing arguments against charitable food aid, doing so by evidencing the relationship between food aid and the wider institutions prevailing in the UK which create, maintain and exacerbate inequality." Critical Social Policy
“Once his eyes had been opened George Orwell would never again subscribe to the Salvation Army. A century on, this study demonstrates how we are now living again with the sensibilities and outcomes of 1920s and 1930s inequality.” Danny Dorling, University of Oxford
"The use of the lens of race and religion in this valuable study of food aid and food insecurity makes for a thought-provoking and challenging contribution to the literature." Ruth Lister, House of Lords
Maddy Power is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York.
Foreword - Kate Pickett
1. Introduction
2. Revising perspectives on neoliberalism, hunger and food insecurity
3. Food aid and neoliberalism: an alliance built on shared interests?
4. Soup and salvation: realising religion through contemporary food charity
5. Whiteness, racism and colourblindness in UK food aid
6. Lived neoliberalism: food, poverty and power
7.Racial inequality or mutual aid? Food and poverty among Pakistani British and White British women
8. Seeds beneath the snow
