Beyond calories: a sociological food security index for measuring entitlements, power, and cultural resilience in Pakistan's agrarian communities

Introduction Food Security in the Global South is typically measured through caloric intake or economic indicators, neglecting the structural, cultural, and historical forces that shape access. This study critiques neoliberal food security metrics by co-developing, with agrarian communities, a sociological index that quantifies colonial legacies, corporate control, and gendered deprivation. Methods Using a participatory approach, deliberative workshops ( n = 98 stakeholders) and a household survey ( n = 379) were conducted. The study operationalized four dimensions historical context, cultural entitlement, structural barriers, and critical consciousness into 20 Likert-scale items. The index was developed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and relationships between variables were analyzed using a generalized linear model path analysis. Results The EFA yielded a preliminary 6-factor structure (e.g., “cultural sovereignty”, “structural deprivation”) with strong reliability (α = 0.720.84). The path analysis revealed a pattern where education appeared to mediate 94% of income's statistical association with the Sociological Food Security Index (SFSI) (β = 0.094, p < 0.001). Patriarchal family structures were associated with direct negative impacts (β = −0.210, p < 0.001), while age emerged as the strongest positive predictor (β = 0.319, p < 0.001), underscoring the protective role of intergenerational knowledge. Strikingly, income showed no significant direct association with food security (β = 0.002, p = 0.981), challenging economic reductionism. Discussion and conclusion The SFSI represents advancement in food security scholarship by attempting to quantify asymmetries (e.g., “Ration shops cheat us”) and cultural erosion (e.g., “Youth reject traditional foods”). For Pakistan and similar contexts, findings advocate for education-linked agrarian reform, gender-transformative food programs, and policies curbing corporate control. This research suggests a paradigm shift from calorie counting to entitlement-based solutions.