Can obesity be a culture?

I think that would work very well. You could talk about the contribution of technology (people don’t walk anywhere any more; kids play video games or are on the computer so they don’t get exercise); the food industry; how plate and portion sizes have increased, etc.

that’s a great idea! Consider the corporatization of “food” manufacturing into production of stuff laden with fat, high fructose corn syrup, and sodium!

“Obesity spreads to friends, study concludes”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/health/25iht-fat.4.6830240.html

There are also communities that accept and even advocate being overweight or obese. There’s a culture for pretty much everything.

I think it could work. I had a group of overweight friends (I was part of the group for a while). Most of them wanted to stay overweight to a certain degree and would only befriend overweight people. Its just like having a group of friends involved in the skater scene. You all have something in common, something that constantly affects your life, and usually you just want to be around ppl that understand that factor in your life.

Great idea, and you could watch Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock, a documentary on this very topic.

@jaytkay‘s link references Dr. Nicholas Christakis, who wrote an excellent book on social networks called Connected.

You could call your paper the Knife and Fork Syndrome.

Parents are to blame for allowing their children to become obese. bad eating habits at an early age, is to blame most of the time. you know this firsthand.

Do plenty of research, before writing your paper. good idea.

A certain points in history and in certain places, obesity was a sign of power. In Hawaii, I believe, the kings were expected to get very large as a sign the they have enough wealth to be able to get fat. I believe this was also the case in Western Europe at certain times when food was scarce. To be fat then showed you were quite wealthy.

As my friend likes to say to me, “Wundy, you’re looking pretty prosperous these days.” Thanks dude. Thanks a lot.

I’d be careful of conflating a cultural artefact or result with the culture.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe there is a difference between a phenomenon and an epiphenomenon.

@the100thmonkey So the question is, is obesity widespread enough to be considered a trait of American culture? (I think we are discussing the US, yes?).

It is a defining trait of a certain population, and you can probably describe common behaviors, but I don’t think it meets the definition of a culture.

You live in some region that has regional traits, have a certain ethnicity or mix of ethnicities, belong to some age demographic, perhaps have religious or political affiliations, are probably a fan of some TV personality or team or entertainer, and may be into a certain kind of music or sport or activity. Why don’t you look for one of those as your culture rather than something that isn’t necessarily a constant in people’s lives and that not many choose to identify with?

@jaytkay – yes, but I would suggest that it’s a result of cultural practices rather than a cultural practice.

As for the rest, what @Jeruba said :)

Why don’t you look for one of those as your culture rather than something…that not many choose to identify with?

A large and ever-increasing number of Americans are obese. Whether they consciously choose it or not, that is their culture.

Imagine your are Margaret Meade and just encountered us.

Definitely. Just think of how young people can be socialised into eating a lot. Peer pressure plays a big part in this. Location and economics count too. For example, if fastfood outlets are frequently located near places where young people like to hang out, for example, the movies, they’ll have a higher tendency to patronise those eateries more often, compared to healthier outlets which aren’t so conveniently located. Start exploring from here; I’m sure you’ll have tons to write about.

I think this is a great idea. Food is such a big part of our culture. Certain ethnicities, and certain economic classes also have more obesity than others, kind of part of the subculture of those groups, not sure if you want to work that in somehow? Just brainstorming…back in history the rich were heavier, because it meant they had plenty to eat, and now the poor are more likely to be heavy. I really think what looks normal to us, depends on the people we hang out with. When I am in NY and FL I am overweight, in MI and TN I am average.

Culture, sense 5:

the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

I think you might be able to make a case for obesity as a consequence of cultural behavior or a cultural attitude, just as for some others, fitness, healthy food choices, and environmental consciousness are part of their cultural behavior and attitudes. But obesity itself isn’t a culture. A trait of a culture is not the culture.

I would call obesity a culture when obese people gather together out of choice, seeking one another’s company just because they’re obese, and they have a sense of kinship with one another because of this shared trait, to the point that they happily greet overweight strangers with “Hi, fatty” as a matter of pride in recognition.

Smoking had an effect on culture too in the past.

When other cultures adopt the Western Diet, they also famously become obese and develop the same health problems, like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure (among others). When they go off of our diet and back on to their own, the problems are often mitigated or disappear. If part of a culture is what they eat and drink, so too must be the results of those aspects of the culture, I would think.

@laureth – fair enough, but that’s still conflating the practices with the results.