I study welfare and social policy in the twentieth century through the lens of food assistance policies. My project explores the shifting politics of hunger, the welfare state, and public/private provision in the United States and Britain during the late twentieth century. Through comparative analysis of food programs including food stamps, school meals, and food banking in the U.S. and income support programs in Britain, my project tracks the changing frames of hunger and poverty as issues during what is thought of as a shared moment of rising transatlantic conservatism. I follow how policymakers ideas about the proper balance of public and private welfare provision changed during the 1970s, complicating the narrative of welfare privatization during the 1980s.

Food Assistance Policies and the Transformation of the Public/ Private Welfare State in the U.S. and Britain, 1972-1988