Social Stratification, Global Media and the Logic of Market Representations of Obese Americans - Essay Example

Social Stratification, Global Media and the Logic of Market Representations of Obese Americans Introduction The agency or hip of language, culture, social groups and macro structures in the making of the social construction of reality has been highlighted by theorists from radically different platforms. Berger and Luckmann (1967) see the important role of language as the supreme co-ordinates of life. Common sense too is a constituent factor of reality as based on it people generally interact with each other in everyday life situations. In other words, everyday life has normal and self-evident routines which are shared by people from the standpoint of commonsense knowledge. The social constructions of obese Americans by agencies from the United States and from the rest of the world are also based on the authorship by macro structures as social stratificatory systems such as class, race, gender, ethnicity, and culture. On the other hand, such constructions are logically based on nothing but commonsensical world views and received wisdom. For Adorno (1991), the importance of cultural industry is not merely limited to its economic capabilities (which is, of course, relatively strong); but also to the prominent role it has on the making and unmaking of peoples' identities, attitudes, values and lifestyles. In general, culture industries from around the world are playing an important role in posing slim body and fat body antagonistically. During(1999) is of the view that primary production or manufacturing is becoming decreasingly important sectors of the post-modern economy. Therefore, the manufacturing or production of docile bodies in terms dominant aesthetics and values is a major function of today's post-modern economy. Bodies Reflect Social Stratification: Anti-obese Body Culture and the Ideological Functions of Global Media. The end of the cold war marked the beginning of a 'cultural turn' in the globalized world. The worldwide dissemination of the values and attitudes of the West in general and the United States of America in particular has been the focus of attention for not only academicians but also for ordinary people from across the world. There have been intense debates over the impact of globalization and the consequent transformations in the realm of body culture from a number of conflicting standpoints. However, body culture should no longer be perceived as a locally bounded 'whole way of life' as the components of culture themselves have profoundly changed (Baker, 1999:37). Pieterse (1995) suggests that culture should not be viewed as introverted, tied to place and inward-looking as it used to be in history. Rather, culture is seen as an outward-looking 'translocal learning process' (Pieterse, 1995:62). Thus, body is constructed both locally and globally in accordance with the prevailing trends in the market. Market is not for body. But, body is certainly for market. The slim body is an essential ingredient of the successful formulas of marketing. The characteristics of media have changed profoundly in the last two to three decades. They are not merely technological advancements but related to the advancements in life style, especially body culture. The social, political, economic and cultural aspects of the new body culture are carefully crafted in terms of the specific needs digital capitalism has on bodies. Tomlinson defines cultural imperialism as "the use of political and economic power to exalt and spread the values and habits of a foreign culture at the expense of a native culture" (1992, p.23). Therefore, the power of new media conglomerates from the U.S is disseminating a body culture which values only slim bodies in direct opposition to the obese bodies. People from around the world, however, see obese Americans are symbols of the U.S might expressed as imperialism. Sametime, the media is highlighting the virtues and greatness of being slim in opposition to obese bodies and thereby, tactically escaping from the wrath which could be potentially directed against them. Being slim is more than anything a matter of being innocent. In the perspective Barthes(1974), the idealised slim body could be seen as a distinct sign system which carries certain meanings attached to the prevalent order. He forcefully argues that the hegemonic conception of authorship conceived in opposition to an obese body is a product of the dominant discursive practices that incorporate existing power relations and social practices onto itself. For Barthes, the prevalent performer-viewer relationship which emerges as people watch a slim person is the reproduction of capitalist relations of production (in which majority are degraded just consumers who are systematically driven away from the process of production) that permeate every sphere of human production. Barthes has attacked such "presumption of innocence: something which Barthes sees as a characteristic of corruption of bourgeois society" (Hawkes, 2003, p.86). Moore (2002) makes a convincing case that gun possession in the United States is an identifiable cultural phenomenon, directly linked with the culture of fear prevailing in the country both at the micro and macro levels. What Moore identifies as the culture of fear is nothing but manufactured by the elites in the United States. This American reality is the result of the entrenched ruling of the politico-military-industry complex that has a substantial role in the emergence of this trigger culture. On obesity too, it is possible to look upon Moore's analysis of the prevalent American culture of fear. Here, the obese body is considered to be alien to the American values of hard work and other great ideals. And, if something is alien, it must be feared. In other words, the citizenry of the United States is a subject population of its own politico-military-industry complex. Therefore, it is inevitable that the non standardised, non conforming obese body is an object of fear for standard Americans. The widespread availability of American cultural products such as music, television channels, entertainment and informational commodities is one of the important factors that enable the lopsided influence of mainstream American body culture over the rest of the world. Therefore, Schiller famously defines cultural imperialism as "the sum of processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system" (Schiller, 1976: 9). It is important to note that the unsympathetic view of obese Americans among people around the world is created and propagated by the dominant-mainstream American discourse itself. Importantly, Anderson's(1983) claim that nation is an imagined community in the era of print capitalism itself points out the mutations occurring with nation state as it confronts the reality of digital capitalism. It is quite true of America which portrayed as a country of efficient slim-perfect white bodies. While exploring the construct of 'Englishness', Hall (1997) argues that such a national construct is a manufactured homogeneity. "It was always negotiated against difference. It always had to absorb all the differences of class, of religion, of gender, in order to present itself as a homogeneous entity" (Hall, 1997, p.22). This is precisely what happens with bodies too. In order to consolidate a homogenous body culture within the standard framework of 'perfect white body', all other differences based on colour, class, gender and race are subsumed. The proliferation of American cultural products has a penetrating impact over the determination of the body culture of millions of people from within and outside the United States. While analyzing the media and its impact on body culture, it is possible to see that changes in body culture take place in dialectical relationship between the forces at the local and global levels both but follows the same market logic of capitalism. At this juncture, it is necessary to look at the structures and discourses within the United States that create, propagate and enhances the negative view of obese Americans. The United States is characterized by striking body differences between its citizens. The body differences between Americans and people from the rest of the world are also notable. The 'body politic' of the United States is so unique and it is easily discernable as it is comparatively analyzed in relation to the 'body politic' of the rest of the world. It has been generally observed that an obese American is viewed differently from another obese person from any other part of the world. The typical representations of an American obese such as someone who must be blamed for his/her wrong actions or someone who is so greedy of profane things, could be seen as following a pattern of images, beliefs and values. In other words, the representations of an obese American in whatever forms have a concrete ideological basis which is characteristic to the present American social formation and its unique place in the New World Order. If obesity is one of the major eating disorders in the United States, it is also the disorder overwhelmingly and disproportionately represented by the under classes. The workers with minimum pay scale are, in real life and in the advertisement world, mostly seen as a shame in the body politic of America as they are deviations from the American body standard. In the United States, the celebrities are iconicized for their bodies and the ordinary people are supposed to be refashioning their bodies modelled as the celebrity bodies. The whole fashion world is aiming at the people who want to improve their physiques along the line of the celebrities. Olson (2006) forcefully argues that "[A]merica is currently developing into a two-body society that mirrors the economic divisions between the privileged and the underprivileged" (Oslon, 2006, p.187). The Himalayan rise in the inequality levels in the United States which is caused by the neoliberal reforms initiated by the Reagan administration along the lines of the Thatcherism in the United Kingdom. There are many reports and studies which upholds a successful claim that the reform policies of federal government from 1989 onwards are systematically favouring the already rich vis--vis the poor. The new economic regime in the United States is simulating the condition that poor are getting poorer and the rich richer. The measures of Bush administration such as inheritance tax cuts and capital gain reductions have substantially strengthened these tendencies. The rising disparities and inequalities between lower classes and upper classes are increasingly being felt at the realm of healthcare. The Americans who have unfitted and hard bodies are mostly from social sections which are systematically marginalised from the mainstream in multiple ways. The celebrity body, be it of male or female variation, is portrayed in an opposite way to the obese bodies of the majority of American who are economically, culturally, socially and politically deprived of from high ranks. Schlosser (2002) argues that health problems endemic to obesity itself is a curse to the person suffering from it, however, the social sufferings inflicted upon an obese American through the mechanisms of social stigmatisation and stereotyping are larger curses. Oslon uses "the word "body" to describe the entirety of a person's looks" because "the locus of beauty moved from the face to the body during the course of twentieth century during which sweater girl contests and beauty queen pageants featuring bathing suit contests were first inaugurated" (Oslon, 2006, p.188). In other words, along with changes in the political economy of beauty contests, the very conception of beauty has changed. Moreover, Nassar (1998) is of the view that the periodical publications on beauty and fashion too are constantly propagating the view that body, not face, is the sole criterion to judge beauty. Following the paradigm shift from face centricism to body centricism, the notion of weight loss has become identified with hard work, heroism and great success. From 1980s onwards, the number of adult obese in the United States has doubled. The present situation is really alarming that "two out of three adult Americans are overweight-roughly 60 million people-, and one out of three Americans is obese, defined as being more than 30% on the BMI" (Oslon, 2006, p.188).Many a theorists have noted that the distribution of obesity in the United States is along the line of existing social divisions. Therefore, "overweight and obesity are disproportionately frequent among poorer American populations, including rural whites, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans" Oslon, 2006, p.188). In addition, one of the major scientific findings shows that a lower class American woman are approximately 50% more likely to be an obese across races and geographical locations. Notably, theorists have concluded that "there is both a gender and income bias in the determination of who is seriously overweight in America. Documentation of childhood obesity further confirms that the rates of obesity differ along lines of race and ethnicity: Disturbingly, 10% more of black and Hispanic youth and children were overweight than their white counterparts" (Oslon, 2006, pp.188-189). Fat prejudice too is correlated to prejudices based on race, ethnicity, gender and class divisions. The important issue at stake is that the American poor are literally gaining more weight than other social sections combined. Quantitatively speaking, "[A]mericans as a group have grown fatter since the seventies and appear to be growing heavier at an increasing rate. The well-documented palette of reasons for the gain include fewer and fewer meals being eaten at home, an increase in sedentary activity (particularly television viewing), decreased intervention by adults in children's and youths' eating behavior, the proliferation of fatty processed foods, and a move towards ever-greater portion sizes" (Oslon, 2006, pp.189). Poverty is truly disabling. To be specific, "poorer Americans have grown more overweight than their better-off fellow citizens due to their limited access to safe, affordable, and attractive areas to exercise and their having been targeted as customers by fast-food franchisers" (Oslon, 2006, pp.189). Sedentary activity such as television watching is a real-time enhancement to obesity. Even there are curious links between television watching among children of poor and obesity. It is deeply entrenched practice among the poor to let their children to watch television for the parents cannot spend much time on their children. The fact is that parents in a poor family have less time for child rearing or sophisticated child care than earning the means of subsistence. Oslon correctly observes that "[w]here parents have fears about safety, the television is used as a pacifier to keep children from going outside. Research shows that every increased hour of television watching makes for the greater likelihood of obesity" (Oslon, 2006, pp.189). In addition, obesity breaches one's privacy. It could tell many things about you even to strangers. One could easily reach into many conclusions by looking at a person's level of fatness. For instance, there is strong evidence that income determines one's access to outdoor areas for exercise. It is especially true for lower income women as they are mostly trapped in indoors. Regularity in gym going too is depended upon one's income. Therefore, an obese person could easily be identified as a poor with lower income, who in turn has no access to regular gym or outdoor places for exercise. In other words, "[l]ack of opportunities to exercise and buy unprocessed food, franchise targeting, the use of television sets as child caretakers-all of these factors have led to poorer Americans having become more and more rapidly overweight than wealthier citizens" (Oslon, 2006, pp.190). Effects of consumerism and consumerist mass propaganda have a pervasive role in systematically driving the poor into the hands of fast-food industry. It is a matter of fact that, in Critser's (2003) opinion, fast-food industry methodically attracts poor sections of the society by targeting them through sophisticated marketing strategies specifically designed for them. Here, poor are merely treated as highly vulnerable customers and the advertisement practices are aimed at making them more vulnerable to the products of fast food industry. It is widely observed that "[m]uch of this industry's growth has been caused by its successful marketing of super-sized meal values. This more-food-for-less-money strategy to keep customers coming back for more has had an obvious effect on the weight of those who regularly eat in fast-food franchises for instance the inner-city poor, who have limited access to healthier sources of food. The intake of sugar and saturated fats increases enormously with every eaten fast food-meal" (Oslon, 2006, pp.190). Increasingly, being lean is becoming a cultural norm which is enforced through the acceptance of fat as ugly and class prejudices vis--vis the poor. "Moreover, poor women are the members of the population who are most likely to be obese. Given that women are judged more punitively on the basis of their looks, the social status of economically disadvantaged, overweight women has been rendered doubly precarious due to these trends" (Oslon, 2006, pp.190). Impossible is the slogan of capitalism. In the present capitalist society, the slim body of a woman is not only a status symbol but also an idealised story of achieving the impossible. Importantly, the female body ideal is steadily growing thinner whereas in reality, American waistline is in general growing. This indirect proportionality between slimming of the body ideal and fattening of the actual bodies is nothing but an expression of the great desire for achieving the impossible which is an inherent logic of capitalism. Capitalism is also a mode of technological innovation and advancements. Stearns (1997) asserts that the advanced technologies such as plastic surgeries bring about real changes in body based solely on one's ability to afford it. Therefore, being slim forever is a concrete possibility for everyone provided that they have the means for it. "Further confirmation of America's growing obsession with the perfected body is the proliferation of plastic surgery as well as the waning of embarrassment regarding the vanity involved in taking extreme measures to improve one's looks. Plastic surgery-once the recourse of the aged and wealthy-has become increasingly common, and procedures have been lowered in price" (Oslon, 2006, pp.191). Hence, Thompson (1996) the lean body becomes a symbol of individual success and economic superiority. Besides, the slim body is projected in the mainstream as the epitome of such successes. Moreover, the slim body is constantly represented and over represented through the ideological apparatuses of capitalism. Capitalism develops a kind of obsession with the ideal of body perfect. For the middle classes, cosmetic surgery has become readily available tool for raising their social status. "Choosing a new nose or slimmer thighs in the US demonstrates the ability to make social discriminations, to associate oneself first with a wealthier stratum of the middle-class and second in contradistinction to the economically disadvantaged. The remade body is evidence of both savvy about cultural delineations and a marker of comparative cultural rarity. The more 'perfect' the body appears, the more its owner will have a socially desirable position of cultural rarity attributed to him or her" (Oslon, 2006, pp.192). Capitalism is a cultural force too, capable of changing the cultural life of millions and millions from around the world in accordance with its need to reproduce its values and norms which are happened to be deeply embedded in the social cultures of the dominant countries. Conclusion The important thing is not that a rich person could undergo expensive cosmetic surgeries, on the other hand, a poor person cannot afford the expensive cosmetic surgeries. Not only body as a whole, but also its parts too are significant signs of class position, therefore, any deviance from the body perfect is viewed as deficiency. The physical practices which are necessary for reshaping one's body could only be possible for the leisure classes. It a state created by capitalism in which a minority could perform physical labour just for improving the body. It is a true leisure activity with no productive potentials. There is an aspect of commercial aesthetics too in fixing one's body. A well shaped body indicates that its owner has personal autonomy and self discipline or even self control. Through the act of fixing one's body parts rightly, a person is confirming himself/herself to the standard body aesthetics which is determined by the market logic. In other words, the market asks everyone to develop a marketable body. Bibliography Adorno, T. W. (1991). The Culture Industry: Selected Essays on Mass Culture. London: Routledge. Anderson, B. 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Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. London: Pinter. Read More