Culture, Ideology, and Antifat Attitudes

Abstract

Research on antifat attitudes in the United States has shown the position of antifat attitudes in an ideological network and the importance of attributions of control to prejudice against fat people. To test the role of blame and ideology in antifat prejudice, the authors compared attitudes among students in the United States and Mexico. Mexican students were significantly less concerned about their own weight and more accepting of fat people than were U.S. students. Antifat attitudes in the United States were part of a social ideology that holds individuals responsible for their life outcomes and may derive from attributions of controllability over life events. Attributions of controllability were significantly less important in Mexico for predicting antifat attitudes, and antipathy toward fat people showed no evidence of being part of an ideological network. Prejudice toward fat people in the United States appears to have a significant ideological component.

Gender differences in implicit weight identity

“…However, we predicted that participants would implicitly identify themselves as thin regardless of actual weight. Because weight is believed to be within the scope of an individual's control (Crandall & Martinez, 1996;Paxton & Schulthorpe, 1999) and thus malleable, one might perceive the self as ''a thin person stuck inside a fat person.'' Furthermore, weight status, unlike gender or race, is not an unchanging physical characteristic established at birth.…”

“…Overweight individuals are not hired as frequently by prospective employers (Roe & Eickwort, 1976), are discriminated against by their employers and coworkers (Rothblum, Brand, Miller, & Oetjen, 1990), and are less likely to be promoted than are their normal weight peers (Larkin & Pines, 1979). Because weight is viewed as being within the scope of an individual's control (Crandall & Martinez, 1996;Paxton & Schulthorpe, 1999), the overweight and obese are both reviled and blamed for their condition.…”

The false hope syndrome: unrealistic expectations of self-change

“…8 -10 In general, it appears that North Americans believe that individuals have control over their weights and body shapes, holding individuals responsible if they are overweight. 11 Merely committing oneself to a diet may make one feel more in control of oneself, more responsible for one's weight, and, potentially, more likely to succeed at one's diet than one felt before making the commitment.…”

Weight bias: Investigating the impact of an empathy-evoking intervention in reducing mental health professionals' anti-fat attitudes

“…This is in line with Tajfel and Turner's (1986) Social Identity Theory whereby individuals express a more positive evaluation of members of their own group than members of the out-group in terms of 'in-group favouritism'. Crandall and Martinez (1996) highlight that the belief that weight is controllable, combined with cultural values on beauty and thinness, result in widespread prejudice and weight discrimination toward the overweight and obese. Of the 122 participants in this study, only 10 were categorised as 'Underweight', but even so, one can could speculate that perhaps continued exposure of society derogating obese individuals and glorifying thinness, may have led those of lower BMIs to hold more negative implicit attitudes.…”