Rising rates of hunger and food insecurity have sparked a major re-evaluation of all aspects of food systems. Because of the multifaceted nature of food insecurity, however, determining what actions should be taken is challenging, especially since reevaluation efforts are led by experts from several disciplines and there is no consensus about which indicators should be used and how they should be measured. Confusion surrounding the meaning of the terms ‘food security’ and ‘food insecurity’ has contributed to this lack of consensus. As indicators inform action, such confusion has slowed those committed to alleviating hunger in identifying the most pressing targets. This review highlights (1) the importance of clearly defining food security and food insecurity and (2) how such definitions affect measures of food insecurity in the United States. While some might say that definitions are an issue of the past or a trivial matter of semantics, we believe that the world’s present rates of hunger and malnutrition are attributable, at least in part, to the lack of consensus on these definitions and their accompanying measurements and indicators. Although the present review can be helpful to academics and policy makers, the primary purpose is to be a resource to those involved in the day-to-day production of food, such as ranchers and farmers by providing an overview of definitions, indicators, and measurements used when discussing food security.

Purpose: While current scholarship on innovation typically examines its antecedents, the purpose of this paper is to provide a more complete account by advocating for social impacts as a critical component of the sociological study of innovation.Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a conceptual approach to illustrate the ways in which innovation may generate unequitable outcomes. The authors illustrate the purpose of the paper by discussing strategically selected examples that are intended to reflect prominent themes and topics in the relevant literature.Findings: The analysis suggests that while innovation yields many positive benefits, pervasive narratives about its virtues can be overstated when, in fact, innovation may generate adverse effects for particular social groups by reproducing or exacerbating inequality. The authors provide a more complete account of innovation by naming social impacts as a critical component of its sociological study and discussing examples that illustrate how innovation can produce disadvantageous effects by race, gender and social class. The authors move forward the discussion of social impacts by elaborating conditions in which innovation is likely to reproduce the status quo as well as ameliorate negative impacts.Originality/value: While many studies have explained the conditions that foster innovation, this study pushes the boundaries of the study of innovation – a timely topic for practitioners and scholars in the fields of not only sociology, but management, education and public policy. Accordingly, we move forward the discussion of the social impacts of innovation by identifying the ways in which innovation is likely to reproduce structural inequalities.

This research builds on previous mega event research that found that policymakers must understand citizens’ perceptions of mega events and the long-term effects it has on their community to create positive and sustainable legacies. The present study provides new insights and understanding of the social impact of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics on Heber Valley. Using the well-established systemic model of community and quantitative survey data from 1999 until 2003, as well as waves from 2007, 2012, and 2018 data, we investigate, first, if community attachment, satisfaction, and desirability changed over time and, second, how enduring feelings about the Olympics affected community sentiment. Our research finds that there were some changes in residents’ community experience over time; community attachment decreased during 2018, community satisfaction decreased in 2001, 2007, and 2018, and community desirability increased slightly in 2002. We also found that the legacies of the 2002 Winter Olympics do influence how residents feel about their community.

The rapid proliferation of donor advised funds (DAFs) and the rising prominence of their sponsoring organizations are among the most disruptive innovations in philanthropy in recent years. To examine DAFs’ implications for major gift fundraising and nonprofit administration, we interview professional fundraisers from across the US (n = 46). We analyze their comments following a six-stage thematic process. We present a modified fundraising model called the “DAF Donor Relationship Management Cycle.” This new model makes a theoretical contribution to nonprofit studies by highlighting challenges and opportunities for fundraisers in working with DAFs. Among other adjustments, the new model includes gift processing as a critical component and specifies two forms of donor identification—reactive and proactive. Six challenges and four opportunities associated with the stages of the cycle are also delineated. This new model documents how DAFs disrupt fundraising methods and systems, clarifies fundraising cycle assumptions and inferences, and offers important practical insights from fundraisers for other fundraisers. Ultimately, integrated organizational-level strategies are needed to guide DAF adaptation and DAF donor engagement and to inform training and coordination of gift processing and frontline fundraising efforts.

Due to the increasing number of events around the world, event sustainability is an area of research relevant across disciplines. Research has found that event sustainability encompasses economic, environmental, and social legacies. However, events may face unforeseen challenges, sometimes even major scandals. How do these scandals impact residents and the sustainable legacy of the mega-event? As a historical case study, we explore social aspects of event sustainability in the wake of the 2002 Winter Olympics bid scandal, where it was reported that the Salt Lake Olympic Committee (SLOC) bribed members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to secure votes in favor of Salt Lake City hosting the 2002 Winter Olympic. Despite the bribery scandal, the Salt Lake City Games were considered a success by the media and members of the SLOC and IOC. Specifically, the present study investigates local residents’ perceptions of the scandal before, during, and after the Olympics using data gathered from 1999 to 2018 in Heber Valley, Utah. We find that time is a significant predictor of residents’ feelings toward the scandal. Further, feelings towards the Olympics, community desirability, race, and biological sex are also significant predictors. These findings lead us to conclude that the effects of the scandal on the Olympics’ sustainable legacy fade away over time.