Food Insecurity and Unrest Participation: Evidence from Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Abstract This study assesses the claim that food insecurity leads to participation in unrest. I argue that insecure access to food can provide a motivational force to engage in urban unrest. But individuals must also have the capacity to partake in collective action, and acute food insecurity may undermine mobilization potential. Further, food insecurity is a mundane and widespread grievance often seen as an apolitical issue. I therefore suggest that organizational networks could facilitate the occurrence of unrest, as they provide both an existing mobilizing structure and the potential to politicize an individual-level grievance. The article explores the relationship between food access and unrest participation on the individual level in the context of Johannesburg, South Africa. I find that food insecurity increases the likelihood of unrest participation and that some types of organizational networks are catalysts of such effects.