Understanding lived experiences of food insecurity through a paraliminality lens

Moraes, C, McEachern, M, Gibbons, AR ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4600-806X and Scullion, LC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5766-3241 2021, 'Understanding lived experiences of food insecurity through a paraliminality lens' , Sociology, 55 (6) , pp. 1169-1190.

Preview	PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (190kB) | Preview
	PDF - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (960kB)

Abstract

This article examines lived experiences of food insecurity in the United Kingdom as a liminal phenomenon. Our research is set within the context of austerity measures, welfare reform and the precarity experienced by increasing numbers of individuals. Drawing on original qualitative data, we highlight diverse food insecurity experiences as transitional, oscillating between phases of everyday food access to requiring supplementary food, which are both empowering and reinforcing of food insecurity. We make three original contributions to existing research on food insecurity. First, we expand the scope of empirical research by conceptualising food insecurity as liminal. Second, we illuminate shared social processes and practices that intersect individual agency and structure, co-constructing people’s experiences of food insecurity. Third, we extend liminality theory by conceptualising paraliminality, a hybrid of liminal and liminoid phenomena that co-generates a persistent liminal state. Finally, we highlight policy implications that go beyond short-term emergency food access measures.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Sociology
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0038-0385
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants
Depositing User:	Dr Andrea Gibbons
Date Deposited:	16 Feb 2021 14:40
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2022 16:42
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/59587

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)