Perceptions of Poverty: A Study of Food Secure and Food Insecure Households in an Urban Area in South Africa

The concept “food security”, together with the understanding of poverty, has evolved since the World Food Conference in 1974, and the debate surrounding food insecurity has shifted to the household level. Recent studies claimed food insecurity as increasingly urban. The literature on theories of poverty focuses primarily on the conservative view based on the explanation that poverty is caused from an individual perspective or, blaming the victim. In this context the literature on the perceptions of the causes of poverty holds that individuals are themselves to blame for their poverty situation (Individualistic); or poverty can be explained as a consequence of economics, politics and cultural factors in society (Structural); or that poverty is the result of illness or bad luck (Fatalistic). This study compares the perceptions of the causes of poverty, of food secure and food insecure households. A quantitative research method was deployed, and 580 questionnaires were administered to a stratified random sample of two low-income neighbourhoods in Southern Gauteng, South Africa. Using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), households were analysed in terms of their food security status. Three causes, namely individualistic, structural and fatalistic perceptions of the causes of poverty were derived through factor analysis. The study found significant differences with regard to the perceptions of poverty between food secure and food insecure households. In this regard food secure households view individualistic reasons as the root cause of poverty, whereas food insecure households view society and fatalistic causes, the causes of poverty.