Body Problems: Running and Living Long in a Fast-Food Society (Framing 21st Century Social Issues)

Body Problems addresses the relationship between the body and society in a fast-food culture. Agger focuses on issues of food, exercise, work, dieting and eating disorders, fashion, bariatric and cosmetic surgery, and health. He addresses a growing, fundamental dilemma that we have ample access to abundant calories yet lead lifestyles and have jobs that for the most part do not enable us to expend those calories. He proposes solutions, both individual and structural, that involve re-orienting ourselves to exercise as play. This second edition has been updated to include a new chapter on food capitalism and a concluding passage arguing Cartesian dualism can be resolved by exercising vegans in ways that would thwart this food capitalism and give people immense control over their bodies, health, and well-being. The book is ideal for courses in introductory sociology, social problems, work, sociology of sport and leisure, gender, and health and illness. __Body Problems__ addresses the relationship betweenthe body and society in a fast-food culture. Agger focuses on issues of food, exercise, work, dieting and eating disorders, fashion, bariatric and cosmetic surgery, and health. He addresses a growing, fundamental dilemma that we have ample access to abundant calories yet lead lifestyles and have jobs that for the most part do not enable us to expend those calories. He proposes solutions, both individual and structural, that involve re-orienting ourselves to exercise as play. This second edition has been updated to include a new chapter on food capitalism and a concluding passage arguing Cartesian dualism can be resolved by exercising vegans in ways that would thwart this food capitalism and give people immense control over their bodies, health, and well-being. The book is ideal for courses in introductory sociology, social problems, work, sociology of sport and leisure, gender, and health and illness. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Copyright Contents Series Foreword Preface Introduction: What's a Body to Do? I. There was no Body Problem until Modernity: Descartes Henry Ford, Corn Syrup, Highways II. Too Much of a Good Thing, and The Invention of Exercise III. Body Sciences IV. Body Industries V. Beyond Body Work VI. Food Fights: The Contested Terrain of the American Dinner Plate VII. Vegans Who Run VIII. Coda: Toward 'Slowmodernity' References Glossary/Index "Body Problems addresses the relationship between the body and society in a fast-food culture. This second edition has been updated to include new chapters on food capitalism and alternative ways in which people may take back control over their bodies, health, and well-being in an over-rationalized and bureaucratized society"-- Provided by publisher