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Lay perspectives on the biomedical paradigm on ‘obesity’: Theorizing weight, health and happiness

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Abstract

In-depth interviews with 42 participants reveal both the parallels and disconnections between the biomedical paradigm on obesity and participants’ viewpoints. On the one hand, nearly all participants express that being overweight is unhealthy and is tied to disease, disability and premature death. They also confirm the primacy of weight, believing that weight loss will lead to better health. On the other, participants challenge the use of the Body Mass Index (BMI) along with various biomedical claims about obesity. They criticize the BMI expressing that it fails to acknowledge a psychological dimension of health and, even as a measure of physiological health, is inaccurate. These critiques connect in part to participants’ prioritizing of emotional health and to an understanding of idiosyncratic health. Grounded theorizing from these data focuses on how health beliefs cannot be separated from personal experiences, emotional well-being and ideals of happiness, pointing to new ways to think about health research and practice.

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Notes

  1. Participants were compensated for their time through a National Science Foundation grant.

  2. From primarily two minority groups – African-American and Hispanic.

  3. All names are pseudonyms.

  4. Because I discuss weight loss motivations elsewhere, I do not discuss them here (see Kwan, 2009b).

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Houston, 482 Philip G. Hoffman Hall, Houston, 77204, TX, USA

    Samantha Kwan

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  1. Samantha Kwan
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Kwan, S. Lay perspectives on the biomedical paradigm on ‘obesity’: Theorizing weight, health and happiness. Soc Theory Health 10, 61–77 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/sth.2011.12

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