Social and cultural relations in economic action: Peasant food security in the context of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in Malawi

Three conceptual streams can be used to explain peasants' behavior to secure their food supply amidst the AIDS epidemic. The first is neoclassical economic theory. It would contend that peasant food security is contingent upon utilitarian decisions of individual peasant households. Social and cultural ties and obligations make peasant households less productive. AIDS increases the incidence of illness and deaths, thus reduces household labor supply and compromises household food security. The second is the social construction conceptual stream. It emphasizes the role of socialization and relations in peasants' behavior. It would contend that social and cultural ties and obligations determine peasants' actions and how they secure their food security. AIDS would thus compromise peasant food security when it increases the burden of illness and deaths to a threshold that fractures the ties and obligations. The third, which synthesizes the neoclassical and social construction viewpoints, is the embeddedness conceptual stream. It suggests that peasants' actions to secure their food supply is contingent upon individual household initiatives amidst collective sharing of resources, goods, services, and burdens through reciprocity and redistribution. Ties and obligations are social capital that facilitate reciprocity and redistribution.;My research, which involved interviews and observations of 123 peasant households in rural Malawi support the embeddedness viewpoint. There was some evidence of the role of both individual drive and networks of relations in peasants' efforts to secure their food supply amidst the worsening burden of illness and deaths. When the burden reaches a threshold, it weakens individual drive, severs the ties and obligations, depletes social capital, diminishes reciprocity and redistribution, thus compromises peasant food security. AIDS threatens peasant food security through increasing the burden of illness and deaths that, in turn, weakens individual drive and breaks down the social and cultural ties and obligations.