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The Causes of HungerA 3-part Journey 

1. Seeing the Unseen

2. Hunger‘s Depths: The Symptoms

3. Hunger’s Depths: The Social & Mental Structures

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Intangible Causes:

Mental Structure

Less-tangible Causes:

Social Structure

Tangible Causes:Symptoms

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The Social Structure

Facilitator

Training Video

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In almost all societies, the people living with hunger

are indigenous people,

 women, & girls… 

Why?

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Because they Lack

“Symbolic Capital” 

• Social structures confer “symbolic capital.” 

• “Symbolic capital” refers to status, rights and

privileges given strictly on the basis of gender,ethnicity, age, etc.

• In almost all societies, males are given greater

symbolic capital than females.

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Symbolic capital translates

into social positions

These positions include whether we aredominant or subordinate,

oppressor or oppressed

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Social Positions Dictate

Roles and Behaviors

• Women’s roles are typically in the home• Cooking

• Having and raising children

• Fetching water and wood

• Men’s roles are typically outside the home• Working in the community

• Earning money• Participating in community decision-making

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And finally, all of these

positions and roles arereinforced by society

• Government• Religious institutions

• The market

• Etc.

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People are not born “ wanting to dominate” 

or “ wanting to be oppressed!” 

We fall into or assume the positions and

roles society has created for us

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Changemaker Dialogue1. What “social capital” have you been given?

2. How has it helped to determine the positions

and roles you’ve taken on?

3. How has it helped you? How might it be holding

you back?

4. How are you spending your social capital?

5. Does this dialogue help you appreciate the

power of our social structures have on our lives?

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The Mental Structure

Facilitator

Training Video

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By mental structure, wemean the thoughts, ideas,

 values, beliefs, attitudes

 we hold in our mind.

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Our mental

structure

mirrors,

recreates andreproduces

our social

structure

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We see the social structure as

 the natural state of things:

Immutable, not created by

human beings

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In the case of hunger and poverty,

 the result is often:Resignation

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Changemaker Dialogue

What have you learned about

the causes of hunger?