Sociological Analysis of Obesity - Essay Example

The Sociology of Obesity 2009 Obesity is considered to be one of the most serious killer diseases in America. It has been estimated that as many as three in five Americans are overweight, one in three is obese and 100,000 people die of obesity every year (BBC, 2003). The standard definition of obesity is in terms of the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is body weight in kilograms divided in the squared height in meters. A person is considered overweight when the BMI is greater than 25 and obesity when BMI is greater than 35. According the National Center for Health Statistics Report of 2004, based on surveys during 1999 to 2002, 31 percent of American adults were obese, compared to 15 percent a decade earlier. Another 34 percent were categorized overweight, 33 percent normal and only 2 percent underweight (Pew Research Center, 2006). Researchers have also found that much of the obesity is related to excessive consumption of junk food that is high on fat. Typically, obesity is discussed in terms of socio-economic parameters like price-induced growth in consumption and racial differences in lifestyles and dietary patterns. Usually, the fast food industry had mainly been blamed for resulting obesity as it provides ‘junk’ food that is high in fat, the low prices enabled by the elimination of table service and assembly-type production system. Fast food, particularly McDonald’s, has become the icon of middle class aspiration and value for money. However, with economic growth and globalization, consumers have more money to spend on eating out and are also willing to spend more to stay healthy. Over the recent past, McDonald’s and other fast food companies have faced a number of lawsuits for posing health hazards. The first such suit was filed in New York Supreme Court by a group of overweight Americans against McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken for tempting them with food that contained excessive grease, salt and sugar. In England, two Greenpeace activists were engaged in the longest ever libel trial in the country beginning in 1994 when McDonald’s sued them over the pamphlet, “What’s Wrong with McDonald’s” that they distributed (BBC Special). Although McDonald’s won the case and was awarded GBP 60,000 in damages, it dealt a severe public image blow to the company. However, lifestyle rather than the availability of inexpensive food catered by the fast food industry is the main reason for obesity. In a Pew Research Center (2006), it was found that most Americans realize that lifestyle and personal dietary conditions are the main reason for obesity. In the survey, 85 percent respondents reported to be more overweight than five years ago while only 67 percent considered this as a major problem. While lack of exercise and willpower about controlling diet are the main reasons for obesity, half the people surveyed said the type of food supplied by restaurants and supermarkets are the main causes while one third said obesity is genetically determined. Like in America, obesity is an epidemic in other developed countries. For example, it was found in a study in Sweden, obesity has increased in the decade of 1990s from the previous decade. The rise is highest among the middle-aged and particularly so among women. The relationship between obesity is also seen to be negative with education for women (Lissner, et al, 2000). Another study in Australia found that there are gender, ethnicity, culture and social class influences in childhood obesity (Odea, 2008). While there are differences in the levels of obesity among European-Australians and indigenous Australians, the adoption of a western lifestyle by the indigenous people are leading to similar health problems, including obesity, among the two groups of population in Australia. Racial differences in obesity have been discussed in terms of differences in economic status as well as cultural patterns. Typically, research on health behavior differences focus on racial and ethnic differences that include differences in biological and cultural behavior. For example, the African American people in the United States are found to have lower health outcomes because they are considered to be less worried about being obese and having sedentary lifestyles, both leading to heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and Type II diabetes (Bailey, 2006). According to Bailey (2006), blacks have a “flexible cultural definition of healthiness, with black women more satisfied with their health even if they are fat, which, according to them, is “large-boned” and not overweight. On the other hand, physical fitness and weight control is generally a great concern for the whites, more so with white women. Besides the cultural differences in the approach to obesity, dietary differences also contribute to the racial differences in the incidence of illness among the Afro-Americans and the Euro-Americans. While the intake of spices, oil and sugar is much higher among the African Americans, the Euro-Americans, rooted to their tradition of healthier diet from the plantation days, consume less fat and sugar (Bailey, 2006). As a result, it is found that more African American are obese, at 50 percent, than white women, 28 percent of whom were found to be obese in 1999 (Flegel, e al, 2002, cited in Princeton, n.d). Further, obesity is seen to be more acute in middle age, partly due to metabolic changes at this time of lifecycle, as well as because of increased stressed and socioeconomic conditions. Recognizing that there are dietary differences among the African Americans and Euro-Americans, it must also be accepted that blacks are subject to financial and emotional stress resulting from inter-generational disparities that they have bee subjected too. While the typical illnesses that plague the African Americans are generally the same as those suffered by the Euro Americans, the severity and the frequency of incidence is often higher among the former, primarily because of differences in diet, living conditions and stress levels, as opposed to genetic differences. For example, African Americans have 40 percent more heart diseases and 33 percent more diabetes, a major reason for both diseases being obesity. The lifestyle change among indigenous Australian population has also resulted in the problem of obesity among this group of population. While the traditional diet in the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the indigenous people was high in proteins and complex carbohydrates and low in sugar, resulting in low energy density and high nutritional density, the change in lifestyle as a result of geographical, social and economic conditions, has led to a degree of insulin resistance that causes type II diabetes. The indigenous people spent a lot of energy in the hunting and food gathering activities. The introduction of settlements and a transition to a western lifestyle has meant that such activities are greatly reduced. At the same time, the settlements of indigenous people in remote areas and poverty among these people have meant that access to nutritional food like fruits and vegetables is also low. As a result, the diet of many indigenous people is now high in refined carbohydrates and unsaturated fat as the cost of takeaway food like convenience food, which are typically high in sugar content, is more reasonable. This has become the main factor of nutrition-related diseases and morbidity among the indigenous people. Cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and renal diseases are common among the indigenous Australians (Australian Indigenous Health Infonet). While obesity in adults is considered to be almost an epidemic, childhood obesity is not taken as seriously although this segment of population is becoming even more vulnerable to the problem because of higher consumption of fast food. Typically, it is found that children from the upper social groups are found to be less aware of the implications of obesity (Wardle, 1995). The prevalence of obesity among children in Australia is found to be growing. In a 2000 survey in a New South Wales school among children aged 7 to 11, 26.2percent of boys and 28.4percent girls were found overweight, and 9.9percent of boys and 7.1percent of girls were found obese. Analysis of time series data showed that from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s, the number of obese children in the age group of 7 to 15 tripled while that of the overweight doubled. The rate of growth in obesity among children in Australia was much lower in the preceding 16 years (Parliament of Australia). In the United Kingdom, obesity among children aged 2 to 10 increased from 9.9 percent to 13.7 percent between 1995 to 2003. While the rise among boys was from 9.6 percent to 14.9 percent, that for girls was from 10.3 percent to 12.5 percent for the period. Obesity among children from lower economic groups was higher than those from higher groups. Levels of obesity were the highest among children from the most deprived areas (National Center for Social Research, 2006). The growth of obesity among children is primarily due to the increased consumption of fast food, limited access to nutritional food and lack of exercise, particularly among urban children. Childhood obesity has a high possibility of continuing as adult obesity that leads to diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Feminists also have an alternate view on obesity. According to them, the concern about obesity as defined by the Body Mass Index (BMI) is a construct by the medical community that is also culturally determined (Kwan et al, 2009). They argue that being fat is not necessarily unhealthy. The obsession about slenderness is also evident in the gender differences in perceptions about being overweight as seen in the Pew Research Center (2006) survey. According to the survey, while more women than men feel that being overweight reduces attractiveness, they also feel that they are discriminated against for being obese. While nutrition information is relatively less easily available, the tendency in postmodernist society has been towards group identity through slenderness. As Bordo (1995) says, "To be slim is not enough----the flesh must not ‘wiggle.’" While in the nineteenth century, the body and clothing signified social status, in the present capitalist society, slenderness has come to be a show of power without the explicit depiction of material wealth. Just as managing wealth has become as important as amassing it, the lack of slenderness in body has come to symbolize the lack of will and control. The group identification with slenderness is further promoted through the mass media with unending streams of commercials regarding diet supplements and physical fitness equipment. Just like in clothes fashion, the consumerist society constructs the identity that the group aspires for. Whether slenderness is the true image of a beautiful woman remains controversial but undoubtedly the idea has made remarkable impact on young women. The image of women from the early age of print and other forms of media has been used to promote sales of certain products, mostly used by women but also for which buyers are males only. The purpose is to physically allure or rouse the purchaser through the image of daringly dressed women. Tall women with slender looks fit better to this slot. So, they are the ones who are hyped as the model of beauty. Women also try hard to loose their weight or undertake plastic surgery to alter one or some of body features even at the cost of their health. The problem of obesity, the perception towards the problem and the results of obesity in terms of diseases has connotations for nursing practice as well as the healthcare agency. It must be remembered that obesity is not simply a medical problem but a socio-economic problem. While it is commonly held that obesity is a genetic or lifestyle issue, it has been shown that there is a significant social construct to the problem. The racial and gender differences in the problem as well as the attitude shows that it should to be tackled from a sociological rather than a medical angle. Racial biological differentials have long been discarded and alternative explanations like discriminatory healthcare practices, patients’ mistrust based on past experiences, lack of cultural competence on the part of physicians and other healthcare personnel are now offered. Explicit or implicit stereotyping often affects clinical decision-making. The role of race, gender and language is really a matter of clinical decision as much as it is a sociological interest. Works Cited BBC News, Fast food industry in firing line, 20 June, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3005784.stm Bailey, E. J., Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet, Praeger Publishers, 2006 Bordo, Susan, Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, University of California Press, 1995 Kwan et al. Framing the Fat Body: Contested Meanings between Government, Activists, and Industry. Sociological Inquiry, 2009; 79 (1): 25 Pew Research Center, Americans See Weight Problem Everywhere but in the Mirror, April 11, 2006, http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/Obesity.pdf Princeton, Race and Gender Differences in Overweight and Obesity over the Life Course, http://paa2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=61559 Lissner, L et al, Social mapping of the obesity epidemic in Sweden, International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders, June, 2000 O’dea, J A, Gender, ethnicity, culture and social class influences on childhood obesity among Australian schoolchildren: implications for treatment, prevention and community education, Health and Social Care in the Community, 16(3), 2008 Wardle, J et al, Social variations in attitude to obesity in children, International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders, August, 1995 Australian Indigenous Health Infonet, Overweight and Obesity among Indigenous Peoples, http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-risks/overweight-obesity/reviews/our-review Parliament of Australia, Overweight and Obesity in Australia, 5 October 2006, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/INTGUIDE/sp/obesity.htm National Center for Social Research, Obesity among Children under 11, April 11, 2006, http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_4109245 Read More