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Fat Planet: Obesity, Culture, and Symbolic Body Capital
The average size of human bodies all over the world has been steadily rising over recent decades. The total count of people clinically labeled "obese" is now at least three times what it was in 1980. Fat Planet represents a collaborative effort to consider at a global scale what fat stigma is and what it does to people. Making use of an array of social science perspectives applied in multiple settings, the authors examine the interplay of weight, wealth, history, culture, and meaning to fat and its social rejection. They explore the notion of symbolic body capital--the power of non-fat bodies to do what people need or want. In so doing, they illustrate the complex and quickly shifting dynamics in thinking about fat--often considered personal yet powerfully influenced by and influential upon the broader world in which we live.
272 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 2017
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October 7, 2020
Reaction: a no frills, academic take on a stigmatized phenomenon that has taken new meaning in our age of globalization
Writing Style: a series of essays that all add to the growing dialogue of what it means to be fat as a label, condition, and personalized experience
Argumentation: Our bodies are shaped by many intersecting factors: is it by our discursive understanding? Race? Globalization? Americanization? It appears that it is a little of everything but there is still more to discover
Commendation: The authors take no shortcut and make their claims with a multitude of evidence from the literature and their own work they have done, leading to a closer read that salient points remain with the reader. Studies come from all over the world, including the US, Nepal, Belize, UAE, Fiji, etc.
Critique: In the conclusion, there is mention of an economic model, suggestive of a sequel. It may be that there will be more work done to understand the role of capitalism as a significant factor in the dynamics of body capital?
Writing Style: a series of essays that all add to the growing dialogue of what it means to be fat as a label, condition, and personalized experience
Argumentation: Our bodies are shaped by many intersecting factors: is it by our discursive understanding? Race? Globalization? Americanization? It appears that it is a little of everything but there is still more to discover
Commendation: The authors take no shortcut and make their claims with a multitude of evidence from the literature and their own work they have done, leading to a closer read that salient points remain with the reader. Studies come from all over the world, including the US, Nepal, Belize, UAE, Fiji, etc.
Critique: In the conclusion, there is mention of an economic model, suggestive of a sequel. It may be that there will be more work done to understand the role of capitalism as a significant factor in the dynamics of body capital?
Displaying 1 of 1 review