Food Insecurity and Social Class Disparities in Indonesia's Anthropocene Era
The research examines variations in food insecurity across different social classes and regions, focusing on environmental factors exacerbated by human activity. It hypothesizes that lower-income households experience higher levels of food insecurity due to limited resources, especially in regions with severe environmental degradation. Poor air and water quality, alongside degraded land, are expected to disproportionately affect food security among these households. This reflects the compounded vulnerabilities, which refer to the multiple factors such as income, employment status, and environmental conditions that contribute to food insecurity in the Anthropocene.
The study utilizes data from the National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) collected from 2019 to 2023, which involves approximately 1.5 million households. The study also applies the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), a reliable tool that assesses the severity of food insecurity by capturing individuals' direct experiences with food access challenges. Social class is determined by household income and employment status, while environmental degradation is measured through indicators of air, water, and land quality.
By framing food insecurity as a key indicator of welfare and inequality, the research contributes to broader global discussions on equity and sustainability. The analytical approach, which includes descriptive statistics and multilevel logistic regression, is used to explore the relationship between social class, environmental quality, and food insecurity. While the theoretical contributions are modest, the study provides empirical insights to inform policy efforts to improve food access for vulnerable populations and contribute to global discussions on equity and sustainability.