The Fifth Element: Social Class and the Sociology of Anorexia

Abstract

Epidemiological research has identified a significant association between upper- or middle-class membership and a woman's probability of becoming anorexic, but the extant literature has yet to address the social processes underlying this association. In order to fill this gap, this article frames anorexia as a deviant career that entails the adoption of an anorexic set of practices and orientations that may be recognized as a distinctive type of Bourdieuian habitus. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted in France, this article argues that the set of practices and orientations acquired through an anorexic career builds upon practices and orientations clearly identified with middle- and upper-class status.