Understanding Public Safety in Food Deserts: A Sociological Lens

This essay examines the phenomenon of food deserts through sociological lenses, specifically the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives, to understand their impact on public safety. It highlights that food deserts, characterized by limited access to nutritious food for lower-income populations, are not merely a matter of food scarcity but are deeply intertwined with social structures and inequalities. The essay argues that the lack of access to healthy food leads to health problems, increased crime rates, and a general decline in public safety within these communities. Ultimately, it emphasizes the responsibility of public servants to address food deserts as a critical step towards ensuring a crime-free and healthy society, suggesting that providing access to healthy living is essential for improving overall public safety. Desklib offers a platform to explore similar assignments and gain deeper insights.

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Understanding Public Safety in Food Deserts
The paper aims to provide sociological perspectives in understanding public safety in
areas where ‘food desert’ has been created. Food desert refers to the the situation where the
people from the lower class especially are unable to have access to nutritious food (Murphy,
2019). In the minority neighborhoods where these lower class people reside most often provide
unhealthy and cheap food hence leading to a food desert.
According to the functionalist perspective, the society is an interconnected system that
constitutes several parts working together in harmony to preserve the state of balance and
equilibrium (Leer & Kjær, 2015). Thus, the functionalist view would state that food deserts are
formed because of the lack of social harmony and equilibrium.
The conflict perspective on the other hand considers society as constituted by numerous
interests and groups competing for resources and power. This sociological perspective could
describe the food deserts phenomenon as the cause of the constant struggle between the upper
rich class and the lower class (Blay-Palmer, 2016). The lower class, in terms of food deserts
resides within the urban population but does not have access to healthy food.

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The symbolic interactionist view of the society is that individuals react to situations or
circumstances based on their own views about it rather than reacting in an objective way. From
this perspective, food deserts phenomenon is created by the intention of the individual whether
or not she or he wants to give access to healthy food to the lower class population.
People living within food deserts are often prone to obesity because the lack of nutritious
food compels them to eat foods that are high in fat and other obesity increasing minerals. Public
safety is also concerned about the increasing rate of obesity amongst people because it is one of
the reasons for deaths across the world.
When the lower class people are exposed to unhygienic and unhealthy food, they become
ill and vulnerable to many severe diseases, which ultimately risk the safety of the people. Public
safety is something that encompasses not only the physical safety but also the safety in terms of
health as well (Sumlin & Brown, 2017). People, who reside in urban areas with huge class
distinction especially in terms of economy, are the ones living in food deserts. They face several
safety issues because of that as their health is affected, some members of the lower class at times
resort to theft or burglary to have money and access to healthy food. Public servants must realize
that as long as access to healthy living is denied to the public, the rates of crime would keep
increasing. When the residents of food deserts are left to die in hunger, they feel that the only
way to survive is to commit a crime.
To conclude, it must be stated that the public servants have the all-important
responsibility to make sure that the society stays crime free and the first step to do that is to make
the society food desert free. The essay provided the explanation of food desert phenomenon from
three different sociological perspectives. Further, it also presented the association of food desert

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with public safety and found that people living in food deserts often resort to crime to fulfill their
basic healthy eating needs.

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Works cited:
Blay-Palmer, A. (2016). Imagining sustainable food systems. In Imagining sustainable food
systems (pp. 15-28). Routledge.
Leer, J., & Kjær, K. M. (2015). Food, Gender and Media-the Trinity of Bad Taste: A
Conversation with Karen Klitgaard Povlsen. Kvinder, Køn & Forskning, (3-4).
Murphy, B. (2019). Living in a Food Desert: How Lack of Access to Healthy Foods Can Affect
Public Health - Notes From NAP. Retrieved from
https://notes.nap.edu/2011/01/25/living-in-a-food-desert-how-lack-of-access-to-healthy-
foods-can-affect-public-health/
Sumlin, L. L., & Brown, S. A. (2017). Culture and food practices of African American women
with type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Educator, 43(6), 565-575.