Avner Offer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264980
- eISBN:
- 9780191754135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264980.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
Obesity, which is rising in affluent societies, is bad for health, expensive to treat and stigmatising. Its prevalence is higher in market-liberal societies than in those with a more extensive ...
More
Obesity, which is rising in affluent societies, is bad for health, expensive to treat and stigmatising. Its prevalence is higher in market-liberal societies than in those with a more extensive welfare state. This book explores the hypothesis that obesity is a response to stress, and that market-liberal societies are more stressful due to the greater intensity of economic and social competition, and to lower levels of social protection.Less
Obesity, which is rising in affluent societies, is bad for health, expensive to treat and stigmatising. Its prevalence is higher in market-liberal societies than in those with a more extensive welfare state. This book explores the hypothesis that obesity is a response to stress, and that market-liberal societies are more stressful due to the greater intensity of economic and social competition, and to lower levels of social protection.
Avner Offer, Rachel Pechey, and Stanley Ulijaszek (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264980
- eISBN:
- 9780191754135
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264980.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
The problem of obesity is of increasing national and international importance. This book, which provides a solid foundation for the social interpretation of obesity, assessing the role of ...
More
The problem of obesity is of increasing national and international importance. This book, which provides a solid foundation for the social interpretation of obesity, assessing the role of institutions rather than the individual, argues that obesity is a response to stress and that some types of welfare regimes are more stressful than others. International comparisons show that English-speaking market-liberal societies have higher levels of obesity as well as higher levels of labour and product market competition, leading to inequalities that induce uncertainty and anxiety.Less
The problem of obesity is of increasing national and international importance. This book, which provides a solid foundation for the social interpretation of obesity, assessing the role of institutions rather than the individual, argues that obesity is a response to stress and that some types of welfare regimes are more stressful than others. International comparisons show that English-speaking market-liberal societies have higher levels of obesity as well as higher levels of labour and product market competition, leading to inequalities that induce uncertainty and anxiety.
