Lifestyle as a choice of necessity: Young women, health and obesity

Abstract

Sociologists of health have regularly called into question strictly knowledge-based health promotion approaches that focus on individual lifestyle change, claiming preference for collective actions on social determinants of health. These critiques have more recently been directed towards the issue of obesity. Although there is a growing body of work that shows the connection between poverty, obesity and ill health, few studies have focused on the concerns for health and lifestyle of vulnerable populations. In this qualitative study, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with young underprivileged women in order to capture their dispositions towards health practices by outlining sociocultural factors that do (or do not) incline them to pursue a health regimen and weight control strategies. By drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, practical sense and 'choice of the necessary', the results suggest that inclinations to follow normative health guidelines are strongly influenced by family and financial responsibilities and by pressing health concerns rather than a calculation of how the prescribed risk avoidance behaviours will improve personal health and/or prevent illness for one's own sake. In conclusion, this study highlights the limits of prescribed 'solutions' to health improvement that have little to no consideration of embodied social knowledge and lived experiences.

Teaching about obesity: Caring, compassion, communication and courage in midwifery education

“…By taking four of the 6Cs set out in the Department of Health's (2012) Compassion in Practice report, we have been able to present an educational case study of obesity. The literature around the quality of care for those living with obesity makes this a compelling case study for exploring how best to teach the tenets of compassion in practice.…”

“…If we return to the word chain example, these words suggest a particular approach to obesity that is framed within a medicalised discourse. A preoccupation with the risks associated with obesity is argued by many to be over-simplistic, neglecting social structures and social inequalities as factors influencing health (Dumas et al, 2014). This reductionist approach to body weight implicit in the medicalised language can be discussed with students in a feedback exercise (again, either virtual or face-to-face) and a responsive reading list can be developed to deepen the students' understanding of the frames of reference and structures of assumptions through which they understand the issue of obesity.…”

Gordura, Discriminación Y Clasismo: Un Estudio en Jóvenes De Santiago De Chile

“…En primer lugar, las significaciones de la gordura como un asunto de pereza y falta de control, omiten que las variaciones sociales en salud y estilo de vida se encuentran altamente vinculadas a las circunstancias socioeconómicas: la literatura muestra que los grupos socioeconómicamente desaventajados experimentan un sentido de urgencia constante por responder a necesidades inmediatas, que tiene como efecto una orientación hacia el tiempo presente y la exhibición de menos actitudes preventivas (Dumas, Robitaille, & Jette, 2013). Por tanto, la discriminación del/a gordo/a pobre tiende a poner en la esfera de la responsabilidad y de los atributos individuales asuntos que tienen un fuerte componente social.…”

The discordant pleasures of everyday eating: Reflections on the social gradient in obesity under neo-liberalism

“…For others, obesity has been medicalised as a 'problem' of individual psychology, and it has been noted that this discourse has distinctly moralistic and victim-blaming tendencies (Kulnick and Meneley, 2005). Others point to the singularity of the medical discourse around obesity, which fails to recognise cultural differences in how body size may be evaluated, and the range of factors shaping eating practices (Dumas et al, 2013). Our point of departure in this paper, is that there is an urgent need to provide a sociologically informed reading of what underpins the social gradient in obesity, given steadily increasing rates and evidence of its impact on health (Lu, 2014), and also because the obese body is often a shamed and stigmatised body (Lupton, 2013, Warin, 2015.…”