Obesity as social phenomena

People wonder if obesity is a social phenomena in the twenty-first century after observing how events are developing in today's society. As a result, many people are becoming more conscious of their body weight, and dietary recommendations and other clinical approaches are becoming more prevalent, despite the fact that physicians have been working to address these health issues for many years. In addition to posing a health risk, obesity is strongly correlated with poor socioeconomic status, which has had a significant impact on and fostered weight-based discrimination, particularly with regard to identity and physical health. It is also important to note that weight discrimination is a critical factor to a healthy wellbeing. Stigmatization affects an individual overall performance in life. According to Myers and Rosen (1999), people with obesity have faced job discrimination, social exclusion, diet, and fitness organizations have exploited them, they have been denied their rights regarding health benefits and have even found it extremely challenging to find feasible clothing which can help boost their confidence even though these forms of discrimination can be controlled. This paper discusses historical perspective of the issue, the perspectives of obesity discrimination, understanding what obesity discrimination is, recommendations how this phenomenon can be amicably handled, and the analysis of the key.

Historical Perspective of Obesity

So as to understand the history of obesity, this paper looks at a social theory known as the symbolic interactionism which was developed in the twentieth century. It educates that people act towards various things considering the meaning those things have for them. These meanings are frequently generated when people interact with those things. Obesity discrimination takes place in the society, and it has a lot to do with the self and mind. This theory is highly applicable in the history of obesity. Schafer and Ferraro (2011) argue that from the ancient Roman times and other civilizations to late mid-twentieth century, obesity was seen as a sign of wealth and abundance. Obese people were perceived as being healthy, wealthy, and coming from high social grounds. This is to mean that obesity has always been there throughout all ages of human history. Recurrent food shortages and malnutrition had been a part of human existence ever since evolution. However, technical advancement occurred in the eighteenth century, and this ensured that human had enough to feast on because the food was in abundance and was easily available. The scarcity of food led to the connotations that a fat body was a sign of blessings. These concepts were embraced in arts, literature physicians took it positively. However, after the second half of the 19th century, more fat people began to be stigmatized apparently because of aesthetic reasons. In the 19th century, stigmatization became worse, and besides, more research accompanied this discrimination. The research educated how unhealthy being fat was because it was associated with high mortality from chronic nephritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and in the current generation had been linked to kidney diseases. From then, there is a significant concern about fitness and body weight.

Symbolic interaction theory also argues that the mind is a person’s ability to use the symbols in the environment to create meaning. The self, on the other hand, is the ability of an individual to understand how others identify who he or she is and the society is the place where the mind and the self exist. Schafer and Ferraro (2011) argue that despite all the mishaps faced by obese people, they are quickly exposed to public ridicule, barely receive educational scholarships and are always associated with low socioeconomic status. These people have been barely understood by the society because it believes that weight is something that one can easily control and such remarks expose them to more ridicule from the environment. The society views obese people as immoral and emotionally impaired, asexual, people who are never satisfied and unbearable because they cannot be loved. In 1999, a study was carried out by Myers and Rosen, and 492 obese people were interviewed. 40% of these people admitted to having received heartbreaking comments regarding their weight from their colleagues, 29% admitted to having been made to work at a position where they were hidden from clients at work, 27% of obese females agreed that they were fired and even denied choice of assignments just because they were big-bodied and lastly, 25% of them expressed a desired to be self-employed or were already self-employed because they did not want to be exposed to discrimination from the society.

Perspectives of Obesity

Labeling

Klaczynski, Goold, and Mudry (2004) argue that there is a current prominent belief system in the modern post-industrial society that has immensely been influenced by the culture of the United States. This culture is more about accomplishment and failures in areas such as academics, economy, and relations which are by nature outcomes of personal motivations. Many young adults believe that social, economic, and educational achievements are a person’s effort and ability and not as a result of environmental forces like parental and economic backgrounds. This then lays the concept of how this population perceives overweight and obese people. The media, parents and even the society as a whole have the concept of an ideal body that should be thin. The youth and young adult are therefore determined to achieve the “ideal thin” body (Klaczynski, Goold, & Mudry, 2004).

Controllability

Controllability is the ability of people being able to do what they want but are under a dynamic control system where they need to control themselves or be controlled by others. People face problems in life but they are measured differently. In order to be able to solve these problems, various measurements should be reinforced. There are people in the current society who are convinced beyond doubt that obesity is the fault of that individual. They argue that obese people eat without controlling their appetite and, therefore, their condition is their fault. The same people see obese people as mean, unlovable, and gluttonous, something that promotes discrimination (Myers & Rosen, 1999).

These two perspectives have a place in the society, and they need to be changed. The culture of the ideal thin body brings about the concept of controllability where currently, many young people have exposed themselves to skipping meals causing eating deadly disorders.

Understanding Bodyweight Discrimination

Schafer and Ferraro (2011) argue that more and more studies have been done on racism or ethnicity, or disability. However, few types of research have been carried out on discrimination regarding body weight. Even though it has minimal research, body weight is highly linked to the personal wellbeing. The clinical experts of the current generation acknowledge that a lot of body weight harms an individual’s health but not on a physiological level but the stress that is associated with the phenomenon. Klaczynski, Goold, and Mudry (2004) argue that overweight people are exposed to unfavorable social conditions, and more challenges are being experienced because there is the failure to acknowledge that stigma exists and this is mainly borne out of social interactions. Body weight discrimination brings with it a series of health complications. When overweight people are stigmatized, they are viewed as unacceptable and dangerous in the eyes of others. This then forces them to isolate themselves and can reduce their life opportunities. Apart from the people in the environment looking at such people as dangerous and acceptable, the victim also looks at self with discomfort and normally feels uncomfortable when in a social setting (Schafer & Ferraro, 2011). These victims normally feel embarrassed.

Since body weight is something that many people consider controllable, the society sees obese people as lazy, greedy, and self-indulged. Stigma also results from the fact that obesity as a condition exposes victims to long term dangerous diseases such as chronic conditions, disability, depression, high blood pressure which are diseases that are common from low economic backgrounds. Discrimination is perceived as mistreatment and, therefore, brings about a prevalence of psychological distress and lower self-acceptance.

Recommendations

Schafer and Ferraro (2011) argue that when people are prejudiced on the grounds of having a significant body weight, it brings about a situation of disparate and stress and may lead the individual to develop more health problems such as exacerbating. First and foremost, the society needs to acknowledge that stigma exists and is intertwined into the current society. People need to immensely be educated through various educational platforms that a person’s worth can never be determined by the size of their bodies. The society should also come up with realistic strategies to help everyone have a positive body image no matter the size they might be. Everyone in the society needs to discard the belief that being overweight makes one lazy, worthless, and unlikable. Body weight should not be the only emphasized factor to show how healthy an individual happens to be. There is also a tendency of treating obese people with a one size fit, and this is very demoralizing and it contributes to producing a more obese person. The emphasizing of the health risks the obese people are exposed to contribute to their discrimination and harassment regarding size. Healthcare professionals should also resolve to use proper terms to refer to this condition. For example, they should replace the term “fat” with “overweight”. One of the most appropriate ways of dealing with obesity discrimination is by developing friendly public policies. For example, in Michigan and the District of Columbia the discrimination based on weight has been prohibited and is punishable. Companies should be encouraged to promote unfair treatment of their employees and practice unfair hiring practices (Klaczynski, Goold, & Mudry, 2004).

So as to be able to deal with stigmatization, the psychologist needs to look at various factors that contribute to the above stereotypes. Launching of anti-discriminatory movements such as “Health at Every Size” helps people understand what the ideal weight is and how they can prevent body weight discrimination. Through their educative campaigns, they should encourage normal eating behaviors, active living, and lifestyle change.

Conclusion

Obesity stigmatization is very topical and has been termed as a distressing experience where coping mechanisms are highly desired. If coping mechanisms are not adapted, they may bring more health problems and even leading the victim to suicide, especially in the societies such as the American one where good health is highly associated with thinness. The first step for obese individuals is to identify that they are obese and come to terms with their condition and be determined to find an amicable solution to their problem. Those who blame obese individuals have already negatively stereotyped them and held obese people responsible for their own inability to deal with forces that encourage them to eat more than normal. They attribute weight to the individual’s character. It is, therefore, undeniable that obesity is not a recent phenomenon as it has existed ever since people understood the strategies of how he could produce sufficient food supply. Even though it was perceived to be healthy to have more weight in the past, the current generation views an obese person as lazy and unworthy and this sums up into discrimination.

Even though not much study has been carried out in this field, this kind of discrimination is perceived as mistreatment and, therefore, brings about a prevalence of psychological distress and lower self-acceptance. Various strategies can be employed to stop body weight discrimination, and the most important are vigorous campaigns and education so that people can understand obesity and how, first they can prevent it through healthy eating and secondly, how to accommodate people in the society who have an obese condition (Myers & Rosen, 1999).

Gaps to be considered in this study: while referring to various references, this paper noticed that most overreaching conclusions were made from observational studies. For future studies, one topic to be researched on could be finding out other studies that can be used to reach and support these overreaching conclusions and not just observational studies.



References

Klaczynski, P. A., Goold, K. W., & Mudry, J. J. (2004). Culture, obesity stereotypes, self-esteem, and the "thin ideal": A social identity perspective. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(4), 307-307.

Myers, A., & Rosen, J. C. (1999). Obesity stigmatization and coping: Relation to mental health symptoms, body image, and self-esteem. International Journal of Obesity, 23(3), 221-230.

Schafer, M., & Ferraro, K. (2011). The stigma of obesity: Does perceived weight discrimination affect identity and physical health? Social Psychology Quarterly, 74(1), 76-97.