The Politics of Hunger: Protest, Poverty and Policy in England, c. 1750-c. 1840

In the 1840s, England experienced widespread hunger and malnutrition, despite claims of elimination of absolute biological want. The politics of hunger explores how hunger persisted as a political and biological force, and how it was increasingly used as a disciplining device in new modes of governing the population. It sheds new light on how hunger persisted as a political and biological force and is relevant to Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero hunger.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 18 October 2022
Publisher: Manchester University Press

The 1840s marked a period of widespread hunger and malnutrition both at home and in Ireland, while at the same time, there were claims that absolute biological want had been eliminated in England. However, hunger persisted as an "unremitted pressure" according to Marx. The politics of hunger provides a comprehensive analysis of how hunger continued to be experienced and feared, both as a lived reality and as a persistent spectral presence. It also explores how hunger was increasingly employed as a tool for population control in new modes of governance. By drawing upon a rich archive, this innovative and conceptually-sophisticated study sheds new light on the persistence of hunger as a political and biological force. This book is highly relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, which aims to achieve zero hunger by 2030.

The 1840s witnessed widespread hunger and malnutrition at home and mass starvation in Ireland. And yet the aptly named 'Hungry 40s came amidst claims that,notwithstanding Malthusian prophecies,absolute biological want had been eliminated in England. The eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were supposedly the period in which the threat of famine lifted for the peoples of England. But hunger remained,in the words of Marx,an 'unremitted pressure.

The politics of hunger offers the first systematic analysis of the ways in which hunger continued to be experienced and feared,both as a lived and constant spectral presence. It also examines how hunger was increasingly used as a disciplining device in new modes of governing the population. Drawing upon a rich archive,this innovative and conceptually-sophisticated study throws new light on how hunger persisted as a political and biological force. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2,Zero hunger.

The 1840s marked a period of widespread hunger and malnutrition both at home and in Ireland, while at the same time, there were claims that absolute biological want had been eliminated in England. However, hunger persisted as an "unremitted pressure" according to Marx. The politics of hunger provides a comprehensive analysis of how hunger continued to be experienced and feared, both as a lived reality and as a persistent spectral presence. It also explores how hunger was increasingly employed as a tool for population control in new modes of governance. By drawing upon a rich archive, this innovative and conceptually-sophisticated study sheds new light on the persistence of hunger as a political and biological force. This book is highly relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2, which aims to achieve zero hunger by 2030.

Weight: 436g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781526167033