POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE ANALYSIS OF FOOD SYSTEMS: A SUGAR CASE STUDY

A sound analysis of the patterns of food production and consumption in industrialized societies is crucial to a comprehensive restructuring of food politics and economics. The framework of analysis used to analyse changes in the agricultural cycle remains, however, heavily influenced theoritically by 19th century and earlier forms of agricultural production. With the mechanization of agriculture, the industrialization of food production and commercialization of consumption in the 20th century, food preparation has become at least as much an industrial process as an agricultural processes. With these changes in food and agriculture production there is need to change the mode of analysis of the issues.;The proposed agricultural-industrial framework of analysis has a number of separate but related aspects. First the structure of a food market, using a production-consumption chain analysis, is prepared. The analysis of the food chain provides an inital overview of the production to consumption process and the identification of the key participants in the market. Part 1 of the framework of analysis is developed in the second chapter.;The second part of the framework of analysis is the evaluation of the impact of nine critical cross sectional issues on the food chain. Each issue brings into focus a different set of political, social, and economic factors that affect the dynamics of the transformation of the crop into a food product. The third chapter will present the nine critical issues along with the rationale for their importance.;In subsequent chapters the framework of analysis is elaborated in the context of a case study of the sugar industry.;The thesis seeks to contribute to the formulation of a method for the analysis of the food production to consumption chain from the prespective of the social analyst and social planner. The thesis examines the economic, political, and social steps involved in the current food system from the growing of the crops to the serving of the food. The method of analysis is intended to provide direction for a fuller theoritical assessment of contemporary capitalist agriculture and food processing. Chapter 1 addresses these theoritical concerns.