Body Problems: Running and Living Long in a Fast-Food Society

107 Pages·2020·6.694 MB·English

by  Ben Agger

Body Problems
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.
Th is 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. Th e book is ideal for courses in
introductory sociology, social problems, work, sociology of sport and leisure, gender,
and health and illness.
Ben Agger (1952–2015) was Professor of Sociology and Humanities and Director
of the Center for Th eory at Th e University of Texas at Arlington. Among his last
published books were Texting Toward Utopia: Kids, Writing, and Resistance (2013)
and Oversharing: Presentations of Self in the Internet Age (2012).
Framing 21st Century Social Issues
Series Editor: France Winddance Twine, University of California, Santa Barbara
Th e goal of this new, unique series is to off er readable, teachable “thinking frames” on today’s social
problems and social issues by leading scholars. Th ese are available for view on https://www.routledge.
com/Framing-21st-Century-Social-Issues/book-series/SOCISS
For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge S ocial Issues
Collection now off ers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide “overviews”
to important social issues a s well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously published by
Routledge and other presses.
As an instructor, click to the website to view the library and decide how to build your custom
anthology and which thinking frames to assign. Students can choose to receive the assigned materials
in print and/or electronic formats at an aff ordable price.
Available
Body Problems, Second Edition
Running and Living Long in a Fast-Food Society
Ben Agger
Trans* Lives in the United States
Challenges of Transition and Beyond
Andrew Rene Cutler-Seeber
Entrepreneurs and the Search for the American Dream
Zulema Valdez
The Global Beauty Industry
Colorism, Racism, and the National Body
Meeta Rani Jha
Series Advisory Board : Rene Almeling, Y ale University , Joyce Bell, U niversity of Pittsburgh , Elizabeth
Bernstein, Barnard College , David Embrick, Loyola University – Chicago , Tanya Golash-Boza, U niversity
of California – Merced , Melissa Harris, N ew York University , Matthew Hughey, U niversity of Connecticut ,
Kerwin Kaye, S UNY – Old Westbury, Wendy Moore, Texas A&M , Alondra Nelson, C olumbia University,
Deirdre Royster, New York University , Zulema Valdez, University of California – Merced , Victor Rios,
University of California – Santa Barbara.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/Framing-21st-Century-
Social-Issues/book-series/SOCISS
Body Problems
Running and Living Long
in a Fast-Food Society
Second Edition
Ben Agger
Second edition published 2020
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ben Agger to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition by Routledge, 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-65874-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-65875-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62060-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Garamond and Gill Sans
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Preface ix
Introduction: What’s a Body to Do? xi
by Scott G. McNall
I. Th ere was no Body Problem until Modernity: Descartes,
Henry Ford, Corn Syrup, Highways 1
II. Too Much of a Good Th ing, and Th e Invention of Exercise 9
III. Body Sciences 17
IV. Body Industries 27
V. Beyond Body Work 36
VI. Food Fights: Th e Contested Terrain of the American Dinner Plate 52
VII. Vegans Who Run 56
VIII. Coda: Toward ‘Slowmodernity’ 64
References 69
Glossary/Index 75
Contents v
Q Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
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Series Foreword
Th e world in the early 21st century is beset with problems—a troubled economy,
global warming, oil spills, religious and national confl ict, poverty, human immuno-
defi ciency virus (HIV), health problems associated with sedentary lifestyles. Virtually
no nation is exempt, and everyone, even in affl uent countries, feels the impact of these
global issues.
Since its inception in the 19th century, sociology has been the academic discipline
dedicated to analyzing social problems. It is still so today. Sociologists off er not only
diagnoses; they glimpse solutions, which they then off er to policy makers and citizens
who work for a better world. Sociology played a major role in the civil rights move-
ment during the 1960s in helping us to understand racial inequalities and prejudice,
and it can play a major role today as we grapple with old and new issues.
Th is series builds on the giants of sociology, such as Weber, Durkheim, Marx,
Parsons, and Mills. It uses their frames, and newer ones, to focus on particular issues of
contemporary concern. Th ese books are about the nuts and bolts of social problems,
but they are equally about the frames through which we analyze these problems. It is
clear by now that there is no single correct way to view the world, but only paradigms,
models, which function as lenses through which we peer. For example, in analyzing
oil spills and environmental pollution, we can use a frame that views such outcomes
as unfortunate results of a reasonable eff ort to harvest fossil fuels. “Drill, baby, drill”
sometimes involves certain costs as pipelines rupture and oil spews forth. Or we could
analyze these environmental crises as inevitable outcomes of our eff ort to dominate
nature in the interest of profi t. Th e fi rst frame would solve oil spills with better envi-
ronmental protection measures and clean-ups, while the second frame would attempt
to prevent them altogether, perhaps shifting away from the use of petroleum and
natural gas and toward alternative energies that are “green.”
Th ese books introduce various frames such as these for viewing social problems.
Th ey also highlight debates between social scientists who frame problems diff er-
ently. Th e books suggest solutions, both on the macro and micro levels. Th at is, they
suggest what new policies might entail, and they also identify ways in which people,
Series Foreword vii
from the ground level, can work toward a better world, changing themselves and
their lives and families and providing models of change for others.
Readers do not need an extensive background in academic sociology to benefi t
from these books. Each book is student-friendly in that we provide glossaries of terms
for the uninitiated that are keyed to bolded terms in the text. Each chapter ends with
questions for further thought and discussion. Th e level of each book is accessible
to undergraduate students, even as these books off er sophisticated and innovative
analyses.
viii Series Foreword
Preface
For the fi rst time in human history, people in affl uent western societies have enough to
eat, and yet their lifestyles, including diet, reliance on the automobile, and desk jobs
pose health risks. For millennia before, the most urgent risk was starvation. Th anks to
Henry Ford’s system of mass production, we not only manufacture cars but also grow
food in such abundance that the horn of plenty has become a threat to public and
personal health. Body sciences and body industries have arisen in order to meet the
challenge of healing people who have too much of a good thing. But I contend that
our body problems are best resolved by exercise, especially running.
In this book, I examine the strange fact that we did not identify body problems
until the dawn of the modern age; desk jobs and the invention of exercise during the
1970s; body sciences such as medicine and single-number indicators of health and
illness; body industries such as gyms, weight-loss programs, and fashion; the fi rst
and second running revolutions, the tribe called the Tarahumara, ultramarathoners
and transcontinental runners; and, fi nally, ‘slowmodernity’—a blend of healthy life-
styles from pre-industrial cultures and modern benefi ts such as literacy, technology,
medicine, and democracy. Above all, I ask how people can live healthier, less stressful,
and more meaningful lives by healing the split between their minds and bodies.

Preface ix