Fitness Culture: Gyms and the Commercialisation of Discipline and Fun

by Roberta Sassatelli

Introduction Fitness Culture, Fit Bodies and the Ethnography of the Gym The Cultural Location of Fitness Gyms Spatiality and Temporality Interaction and Relational Codes Framing Fitness Discipline and Fun The Culture of the Fit Body Fit Bodies, Strong Selves Embodiment, Agency and Consumer Culture References Index

248 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2010

Reviews

[Joe C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book- and I did, but it took effort. This is an extremely well-done piece of research literature. It names itself as an ethnography and delivers there, and has some really good arguments around why we view fitness the way that we do, grounded in stories from individuals who interact with the industry in various ways. I'm working on a trainer certification, and this book put me in a box at times- highlighting thoughts and behaviors prevalent in the fitness industry that I often have an exhibit. It was uncanny. How we view maintenance of the body in gyms and other fitness activity is culturally grounded, no matter how we spin that culture to be universal (ex. "health" and "balance").

Great as the research is, I kept thinking about how this was written. Yes, I can appreciate that it is supposed to be academic. I really tried to keep my "social scientist" hat on while reading. But damn, the language used to describe these theories creates such a huge barrier to understanding. This is not a long book, but it takes a lot of time to read. I almost wanted to rewrite it on my way through to layman-ize it.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting more. What we have here is an ethnographic study, conducted over fifteen years, of gyms in Italy and the United Kingdom. The conventional theories including habitus and Foucault and the presentation of self and Foucault and feminism and - you've guessed it - Foucault make an appearance. So we have some interesting - yes I have intentionally used this banal word - ethnographic interpretations. But the deep theorizations of post-work, post-leisure, and working on/out the body because of the state of paid employment, is far beyond the reach of this book.

Once more we see some solid ideas and research, not matched by a robust, passionate and engaged theoretical framework.

[Mills College Library]

306.5 S2527 2014