Obesity and Inactivity in Australia and Other Westernised Countries - Essay Example

Obesity and inactivity in Australia and other westernised countries By Introduction Australia and other westernized countries continue to grapple with the problem of increased obesity and physical inactivity among their populations. This poses great challenges to the governments as more financial resources are spent on researching about these issues and efforts in combating them. In order to understand the causes and solutions to obesity and increased physical inactivity, it is possible to employ various perspectives. This paper adopts the structure and the agency perspectives in understanding the causes and proposing solutions to obesity and physical inactivity. The agency perspective suggests individual responsibility, while the structure approach argues that structural determinants play an important role. Nevertheless, a conclusion is made that the structural perspective is more effective in understanding the causes and solutions to obesity. Structure and Agency The agency-structure framework originates in the field of sociology. This approach is mainly concerned with answering the question of action, for instance, how an individual can act with others in a case where they do not share similar and compatible goals. The base of the structure and agency is the fundamental and normative question that human beings have posed since past centuries; are we free to act as we choose, or should our actions be shaped and guided by structures? It is impossible to argue that structures are wholly responsible for how human beings act. However, in the present world, it is also not true that people act completely as they please. This paper starts by examining these two terms and provide their definitions. Emirbayer & Mische (1998) in Cockerham (2005) consider agency to be engagement of actors from different environments, who are constructed temporally, and which transform those structures to the problems posed by changing historical situations, mainly through the interplay of habit, imagination, and judgment. Cockerham (2005) postulates that agency can thus be considered as a process through which different individuals, who are under the influence of their past but also orienting toward the future, and present, choose their course of actions in a critical manner. In the agency approach, therefore, the individual is considered as the actor; hence reality is based on the deeds or actions of individuals and not classes or groups of people. In this case, when explaining the behaviour of individuals, we fail to look at groups. The individual becomes the one that is in possession of the casual powers that he or she will use to intervene or not, in any ongoing events that they experience in the world. In any case, the individual or agent in this approach “could have acted otherwise.” Agency posits a voluntarist approach to human action and pays attention to the aspect of time. Therefore, history is considered as a comprising of cumulative self-determined deeds and choices that were chosen freely by an individual. According to Cockerham (2005), structures can be defined as schemas and resources that are mutually sustaining, and which can enable or hinder social action, and tend to be reproduced by the same social action. Schemas are rules or procedures applied in social life, while resources can either be human, including knowledge and physical strength, or non-human, such as naturally occurring or manufactured resources, which together might serve the purpose of power retention and enhancement (Cockerham, 2005). Resources increase the choices that an individual will have, but also limit the range of choices to what is currently available. Therefore, the two factors that influence the choices an individual makes include social rules and available resources. Nonetheless, Cockerham (2005) concludes that agency is not free of structure, as structure, including institutions, group affiliations, class, and roles, among others, determines agency. Hence action can be explained depending on the structure or context in which it takes place. Solutions from a Structure and an Agency Perspective The levels of obesity and physical inactivity continue to be on the rise in Australia, as well as other westernised countries. Although this has become a major concern for the affected countries, there are different ways through which this concern can be addressed. It is possible to apply various approaches or perspectives in developing solutions for this concern. Nonetheless, the structure and agency perspective is one of those that can be considered in developing solutions to the problem. In ensuring that the levels of obesity and physical inactivity decline, the aspect of lifestyle is important. This is because the type of lifestyle that a person leads determines whether or not they will have obesity or will engage in physical activity. Therefore, it is important that people live healthy lifestyles in order to avoid being obese or being physically inactive. However, there are different factors that determine whether a person will lead a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle. Therefore, when bringing up healthy lifestyle as a solution to this problem, the structure and agency perspective shows that different factors have to be put into consideration. From the structure and agency perspective, health lifestyles are a result of choices of people from the options available to them. The life choices can therefore be considered as agency, while life chances, can be regarded as structure. In this case, life chances can empower or limit people’s choices, hence determining their behaviours. If health lifestyles are associated with groups and not individuals, it means that these groups share similar class and status, hence will share similar lifestyles. One of the aspects that influence health lifestyle is the health products industry, which has expensive products. A major solution to the problem of obesity would be for governments of the affected countries to bridge the gap between the health lifestyles that persist between classes. In most countries, the upper and upper-middle class are known to take better care of their health as compared to the lower and working class (Cockerham, 2005). According to Olsen, Dixon, Banwell & Baker (2009), there exists health inequalities in Australia, and this has gained wide focus beginning the 1990’s. Concerns have been raised that the Australian government addresses the inequitable health status of the vulnerable populations in the country, mainly by the re-identification of social determinants of disease paradigm and developing effective polices to address health inequalities in the country’s public health. Another solution to the problem of obesity is for the government to provide different programs targeting parents and school going children, to control the behaviour of children. Mostly the lower class people lack access to information, therefore, if the government provides such important information to the whole country, all the groups will stand to benefit. In addition, the food industry, including fast food industry, can be considered as a form of structure that influences the actions of different classes of people, as far as their health is concerned. For this reason, the government should regulate the fast food industry, ensuring that these produce healthy food for the people. Finally, although it is considered that health lifestyles are a group and not individual choice, the individual plays a big role in choosing their lifestyle, despite the social class they belong. Therefore, governments should use various media platforms to create awareness among people on health lifestyles and the problem of obesity. This way, an individual, being an agent will exercise their power to choose healthy lifestyles, however, depending on the health choices at their disposal. Strengths and Weaknesses of each Perspective From the structure and agency framework, two major perspectives of structure and agency can be adopted as far as addressing the problem of obesity and physical inactivity is concerned. While either of these perspectives can be adopted, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. However, it would be difficult to determine the most effective perspective to adopt, since both perspectives make a significant contribution to how the process of developing solutions for the problems of obesity and physical inactivity should be approached. Nonetheless, the selection of the most effective perspective can be based on the degree of strength of a perspective. First, the structure approach rests on the fact that people belong in groups based on their social status. Therefore, the socio-economic stratification determines whether a particular group of persons will lead a healthy lifestyle or not. The lower and working groups are considered to have less healthy lifestyles, as compared to the upper and upper-middle classes. Therefore, these classes will influence the health choices of individuals that belong in each class, as the individuals in one class share similar health lifestyles. The structure perspective is appropriate in developing solutions to the obesity problem, since different research studies provide evidence of health inequalities among people in a country. For instance, a study by Drewnowski (2009) showed that obesity and type 2 diabetes was more prevalent among the groups of people with low levels of education and income, and those that lived in poor neighbourhoods. A major conclusion from this study was that income and socioeconomic status of people influenced their food choices. Fast foods that are high in calories and fats cost much less as compared to healthy foods. Therefore, poor people mostly afford fast food and other unhealthy food, while rich people can afford the nutrient-rich and high-quality healthy diets. Therefore, obesity is considered as a consequence of economic inequality between groups. A major way that governments can solve this problem within this context is working on bridging the gap between the poor and rich and ensuring universal access to education by whole population. Similarly, the structure perspective can explain the influence of the food industry on food choices of people, and how this contributes to obesity. The food industry can as well be considered as a form of structure that influences people’s choices as far as health lifestyle is concerned. Most studies have shown that the food industry contributes greatly to the problem of obesity. Harris, Pomeranz, Lobstein & Brownell (2009) studied the relationship between child obesity and food marketing. Similarly, Cater (2006) studied this relationship in Australia. The findings showed that food marketing that targets children is massive and advertises unhealthy food. This promotes physical inactivity and increases child obesity, but is difficult to regulate, as it has become a global problem. When the problem of obesity is understood in this context, different organizations and governments can intervene by regulating direct marketing to children by food companies. On the contrary, the weakness of the structure approach in this context is that it is based on generalizations. For instance, it would be inaccurate to claim that all rich people lead healthier lives than those that are not equally rich. Depending on the geographical location and type of place of residence, people in the lower social class might lead healthier lives than the rich. For instance, those that dwell in the rural areas have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy food at a lower price. These will therefore, eat and leave healthily, even as they engage in physical activities such as attending to their farms. On the other hand, the rich in urban areas might afford healthy diets, but they have not prioritized a healthy lifestyle, mainly due to the influence of the media. Therefore, this approach has a weakness of generalising. The agency approach on the other hand, is effective in the sense that it considers the individual as one with power to make a decision or act. For instance, when it comes to food choices, an individual should make a choice of consuming only healthy diet, regardless of the numerous fast food adverts that they are exposed to. Parents can be charged with making this decision for their children. Similarly, regarding physical activity, individuals will choose to be physically fit. According to Badland & Schofield (2005), walking is the most common form of physical activity, and it does not cost money or need specialized equipment. Therefore, whether one is rich or poor, they can walk, as long as they are in a good physical state. The agency perspective is ineffective mainly because it does not consider the external factors that influence the choice of an individual. The fact that today, most people are exposed to adverts that are common on all media platforms, including the internet, makes it difficult for one to make wise decisions as far as their health is concerned. This perspective also disregards structures such as socioeconomic classes and the food industry. Socioeconomic class plays an important role in one’s health choices, as the income level of a person might limit the health choices they can make. Therefore, it is impossible for one to act without being influenced by structures in their environment. Conclusion The structure and agency perspectives provide important lenses through which the problem of obesity and physical inactivity can be understood and solved. While the agency perspective argues for individual responsibility, the structure perspective argues that different structures in one’s environment influence their behaviour and actions. In this regard, this paper has shown how both approaches can be used to understand the problem of obesity as well as solutions to obesity and physical inactivity. From the weaknesses and strengths of each perspective, it is concluded that the structure perspective is the most effective in addressing the solution to the obesity problem. References Badland, H., & Schofield, G. (2005). Transport, urban design, and physical activity: An evidence-based update. Transport Research Part D, 10, 177-196. Doi: 10.1016/j.trd Cater, O. (2006). The weighty issue of Australian television food advertising and childhood obesity. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 17 (1): 5-11. Cockerham, W. (2005). Health Lifestyle Theory and the Convergence of Agency and Structure. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46: 51-67. Drewnowski, A. (2009). Obesity, diets, and social inequalities. Nutrition Reviews, 67 (suppl. 1), S36-S39. Harris, J. L., Pomeranz, J. L., Lobstein, T., & Brownell, K. D. (2009). A crisis in the market place: How food marketing contributes to childhood obesity and what can be done. Annual Review Public Health, 30(2): 211-225. Olsen, A., Dixon, J., Banwell, C. & Baker, P. (2009). Weighing it up: the missing social inequalities dimension in Australian obesity policy discourse. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 20(3): 167-171. Read More