The age of fitness: the power of ability in recent American history

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe article explores the power of fitness in recent American history. It argues that the concept of ability is crucial to understanding the power of fitness, and examining the history of fitness is pivotal to a critical analysis of ableism. As the article shows, modern fitness is more than the physical condition required to succeed in sports; it also means having and shaping a body that represents the willingness and ability to achieve self-improvement, to lead a productive life, and to successfully pursue happiness. Today, a dynamic understanding of fitness seems self-evident. Yet as the article argues, fitness is intimately intertwined with the history of societies built upon liberalism, self-government, and competition. The article therefore begins with a panoramic perspective of how a discourse revolving around an autonomous, liberal, and competitive self took shape from the American Revolution to Social Darwinism, and how this sparked a dynamic understanding of fitness that became a powerful, regulatory ideal within liberal societies. The article then spotlights the beginnings of the recent fitness craze in 1970s and 1980s America in order to explore major paradigms of the age of fitness.