Distribution with Dignity: Rural Food Insecurity and Moral Stigma

Food insecurity in the rural setting is a significant social problem. For the rural poor a closely related issue is the degree of judgement and stigma associated with utilizing support resources such as community food banks... [ view full abstract ]

Food insecurity in the rural setting is a significant social problem. For the rural poor a closely related issue is the degree of judgement and stigma associated with utilizing support resources such as community food banks or pantries.  Even when food bank or pantry services exist in rural communities, individuals experiencing hunger may utilize these services to varying degrees based on the level of stigma or judgement they encounter and the consequences that stem from these judgements within cohesive communities.  There are multiple ways in which stigma and social judgement can enter the food distribution process.  In some cases, staff members are responsible for contributing to an atmosphere in which those in need are judged as unworthy and/or morally compromised for seeking aid.  Yet even when staff have good intentions and positive understandings of their client populations, the physical interaction and overall social environment of service provision can contribute to either preserving participants’ dignity and self-esteem, or reinforcing a sense of shame and humiliation.  Previous research has examined how the model or style of food banks and pantries can affect the nutritional intake, level of food insecurity, and extent of food waste of clients, less existing research has examined how the institutional staff or volunteers consciously and unconsciously construct the social environment of the service through both physical space and social interaction.  Much of this past research on the model or style of food pantries has also come from the human service, public health and nutrition literatures rather than from a sociological or social science perspectives.  This paper fills a gap in the model and design literature by using a sociological perspective to consider how the social environment of food banks is created by the institutional staff and regular volunteers, and the consequences of varying social environments for participants.  Including a sociological perspective on such services design is important in order to further client agency, which can further contribute to alleviating food insecurity.  The paper focuses on multiple qualitative case studies from three field sites collected in rural Washington and California between 2010 and 2015 to examine the distinct types of interactions created by different combinations of space and distribution style, as well as the resulting social climates and their consequences for participants at food banks and pantries in the rural West.   The authors separately conducted in-depth research that included extended ethnographic observations collected through long-term work as food bank or pantry volunteers, as well as in-depth interviews with volunteers, staff, and clients.  The paper compares and contrasts findings from different settings in order to identify those aspects of food distribution that contribute most heavily to the creation or diminution of shame, stigma, inclusion, and dignity.  We find that the social environments of food pantries can affect participants’ community relationships, job and support opportunities, levels of food insecurity, self-esteem, and mental health.