Abstract
Making changes to the way food is produced, distributed, and processed is one strategy for addressing global climate change. In this case study, we examine the “forming” stage of an emergent and locally-based coalition that is both participatory and focused on promoting food security by creating food systems change. Social network analysis is used to compare network density, centrality, and centralization among coalition partners before the formation of the coalition and at its one-year anniversary. Findings reveal that the coalition facilitated information seeking, assistance seeking, and collaborative efforts related to food security among a group of organizational stakeholders that were relatively disconnected pre-coalition. Results also illuminate tensions related to increased centralization of the network, coalition efficiency, and the goals of democratic decision-making. This study highlights the utility of social network analysis as a tool for evaluating the aims and trajectory of locally-based coalitions focused on global concerns.
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Notes
Although this analysis is focused on relations among the partner organizations, all individual participants from each of the partner organizations had an opportunity to participate in the survey. This decision was made by the leadership of the FSP and provided an opportunity for all involved with the coalition to express their views.
Borgatti and Everett (2000) define a core-periphery network structure as one in which there is a set of actors that form a central densely-connected sub-group that is distinct from a set of actors that forms the periphery. In this structure, peripheral actors are more strongly tied to the central set of actors or core than to each other.
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Acknowledgments
This research was partially supported by grants from the LifeWorks and Frist foundations and by the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Cassi Johnson and Lucie Carroll for their support with the data collection process and Paul Speer for his consultation on an earlier version this manuscript. We are grateful for the thoughtful comments made by the peer reviewers and editors. Finally, we wish to thank each Partner for their time and energy related to this research and, more importantly, to the broader mission of the Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee.
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Freedman, D.A., Bess, K.D. Food Systems Change and the Environment: Local and Global Connections. Am J Community Psychol 47, 397–409 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9392-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9392-z