New Direction and Discovery on the Hunger Front: Toward a Sociology of Food Security/Insecurity

In this paper I examine themes for sociological inquiry on food security/insecurity and the expanded role of sociology in a new discovery of this issue that connects research, teaching, and action. I establish the sociological significance of food security/insecurity through a number of interconnected, specialized thematic clusters including population, environment, and ecology; technology, development, and infrastructure; politics and the global political economy; stratification, poverty, and inequality; and conflict, war, and militarization. It is within these clusters that sociology can strongly influence new directions in research on food security/insecurity while concurrently exploring the issue in the classroom and community. Humanist sociology and social justice perspectives taking a critical perspective on food security/insecurity extend logically to teaching and action. In this regard, the discipline can move toward what a sociology of food security/insecurity should be, including a greater role in addressing threats to the human condition and I offer ideas to implement such practices.