Fat is a Sociological Issue: Obesity Rates in Late Modern, ‘Body-Conscious’ Societies

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore the sociological dynamics of the current escalation in rates of obesity in late modern societies, focusing both upon the causes of this escalation and its consequences. The paper has three aims. Firstly, I aim to open up a sociological debate on obesity and to show that this is an issue we can both contribute to and learn from. While lifestyle and the body–society relationship are of obvious importance in current debates on obesity, the input of sociology to these debates has been minimal. The debate has been pulled onto the territory of psychology, genetics and related disciplines. I hope here to make a preliminary step towards correcting this. Secondly, I juxtapose the trend towards obesity with sociological claims regarding our allegedly ‘body conscious’ societies. Many sociologists claim that late modern social agents are increasingly preoccupied with their bodies, and with the pursuit of bodily perfection through diet, exercise etc. The obesity trend suggests a rather different picture. I aim to reconcile these partial pictures of the body in late modern societies. Finally, I use obesity as a way of exploring relations between biology and society. Involuntary weight gain, I suggest, provides an excellent case study for thinking about the interaction of biological and social processes.