Main description:

In recent years, the ways in which food is produced, distributed, and consumed have emerged as prominent health and social issues. With rising concern about rates of obesity, food systems have attracted the attention of state actors, leading to both innovative and controversial public health interventions, such as citywide soda bans, "veggie prescription" initiatives, and farm-to-school programs. At the same time, social movement activism has emerged focused on issues related to food and health, including movements for food justice, food safety, farm worker's rights, and community control of land for agricultural production. Meanwhile, many individuals and families struggle to obtain food that is affordable, accessible, and meaningfully connected to their cultures. Volume 18 of Advances in Medical Sociology brings cutting-edge sociological research to bear on these multiple dimensions of food systems and their impacts on individual and population health. This volume will highlight how food systems matter for health policy, health politics, and the lived experiences and life chances of individuals and communities.

Contents:

Introduction: Towards a Sociology of Food Systems and Population Health; Sara Shostak
Part 1 - Food Systems and Health Outcomes
Chapter 1 - Food System Channels, Health and Illness; Jeffery Sobal
Chapter 2 - Rich Foods: The Cross-National Effects of Healthy Eating on Health Outcomes; Jane S. van Heuvelen and Tom van Heuvelen
Chapter 3 - Food Insecurity and Mental Health: A Gendered Issue?; Gabriele Ciciurkaite and Robyn Lewis Brown
Part 2 - The Social Determinants of Consumption
Chapter 4 - Food Priorities: Sociodemographic Variation in Constrained Choices at the Grocery Store; Christy Freadreacea Brady
Chapter 5 - Educational Attainment and Dietary Lifestyles; Hannah Andrews, Terrence D. Hill and William C. Cockerham
Chapter 6 - Let them eat cake: Socioeconomic status and caregiver indulgence of children's food and drink requests; Brea L. Perry and Jessica McCrory Calarco

Part 3 - Alternative Food Institutions and Ideologies
Chapter 7 - The Promises and Pitfalls of Alternative Food Institutions: Impacts on and Barriers to Engagement with Low-Income Persons in the United States and Canada; Amy Jonason
Chapter 8 - Extension of What and to Whom? A Qualitative Study of Self-Provisioning Service Delivery in a University Extension Program; Ashley Colby and Emily Huddart Kennedy
Chapter 9 - "Grounded in the Neighborhood, Grounded in Community": Social Capital and Health in Community Gardens; Sara Shostak and Norris Guscott
Chapter 10 - Reclaiming Policy Imagination: Buen Vivir, policy culture, and the policy divide between health and agriculture in Puerto Rico; Gabriel Blouin Genest