Kenneth H. Kolb 
Retail Inequality 
Reframing the Food Desert Debate

Retail Inequality examines the failure of recent efforts to improve Americans’ diets by increasing access to healthy food. Based on exhaustive research, this book by Kenneth H. Kolb documents the struggles of two Black neighborhoods in Greenville, South Carolina. For decades, outsiders ignored residents’ complaints about the unsavory retail options on their side of town—until the well-intentioned but flawed ‘food desert’ concept took hold in popular discourse. Soon after, new allies arrived to help, believing that grocery stores and healthier options were the key to better health. These efforts, however, did not change neighborhood residents’ food consumption practices.
Retail Inequality explains why and also outlines the history of deindustrialization, urban public policy, and racism that are the cause of unequal access to food today. Kolb identifies retail inequality as the crucial concept to understanding today’s debates over gentrification and community development. As this book makes clear, the battle over food deserts was never about food—it was about equality.

Table of Content

Contents


   List of Figures 

   Acknowledgments 


1. What We Got Wrong 

2. A Concept Catches Fire 

3. Food Desert Realities: Perception, Money,

   and Transportation 

4. Food Desert Realities: Social Capital,

   Household Dynamics, and Taste 

5. The “Healthy Food” Frame

6. The Problem Solvers

7. A Path Forward 

   Epilogue: Wins and Losses

   

   Appendix: Food Desert Media Database

   Notes 

   References

   Index

 

About the author

Kenneth H. Kolb is Professor of Sociology at Furman University. He is the author of Moral Wages: The Emotional Dilemmas of Victim Advocacy and Counseling.