Social Aspects of Obesity

ISBN-13: 9782884491860 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 352 str.

Ugor De Garine; Igor De Garine

Opis

This collection of essays examines obesity not as an objective medical or psychological problem, but as a subjective social and cultural phenomenon. The contributors take a cross-cultural perspective, examining both the negative casting of obesity in developed countries and the traditional view of obesity as a positive characteristic in subsistence societies which is threatened by the dominance of Western culture.

Recenzje

'Usage of the terms obesity and fatness is important, since, taken collectively, the authors present, among other things, a cross-cultural overview of perceptions of obesity, fatness and large body size, desirable body image, health and healthiness, and the impact of modernization on all of these.' - From Stanley J. Ulijaszek's epilogue 'Social Aspects of Obesity: A Critique'

Spis treści

I: Cultural Fattening Processes; 1: Food and Fatness in Calabria; 2: Physique of Sumo Wrestlers in Relation to Some Cultural Characteristics of Japan; 3: Sociocultural Aspects of the Male Fattening Sessions among the Massa of Northern Cameroon; 4: Fertility and Fat: The Annang Fattening Room; 5: Social Fattening Patterns in the Pacific—the Positive Side of Obesity. A Nauru Case Study; 6: Taste, Food Regimens and Fatness. A Study in Social Stratification; 7: Vegetarianism and Fatness: An Undervalued Perception of the Body; II: Physical and Social Aspects; 8: Potential Advantages and Disadvantages of Human Obesity; 9: Obesity and Physical Fitness: An Age-Dependent Functional and Social Handicap; 10: Obesity and Overweight in Polish Men and Women: Social Determinants; 11: Educational Attainment, Stress Hormones, Body Fat and Health: A Sociocultural Neuroendocrine Pathway?; III: Social Phenomena Associated with Obesity; 12: Changing Food Consumption and Body Images among Malays; 13: Polynesian Responses to Modernization: Overweight and Obesity in the South Pacific; 14: Activity Level and Obesity among Samoans; 15: Obesity and Fatness as seen by the Azande in Central Africa; 16: Evaluation of Fatness in Traditional Japanese Society; 17: Social Aspects of Obesity and Fatness: A Critique; 18: Social Aspects of Obesity and Fatness: Conclusion

O autorze

Igor De Garine, Nancy J. Pollock