ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author discusses knowledge and discourses of fitness. The knowledge that is available to the author has influenced the way that he is able to approach and take part in sport and physical activity. Traditional sociology tends to adopt a 'top-down' approach to studying society through the way that it sets out to focus on the broader structures that shape and inform knowledge. The intention starting from an individual perspective is made by incorporating a sociological lens with the aim of avoiding the pitfall of many psychological accounts that focus only on the individual mind. Within the context of health, physical activity and 'wellbeing', the need for an eclectic approach to understanding such ethereal and arbitrary concepts is even greater. Some consider the concept less problematic and approach it in terms of a more measureable 'object', which invariably incorporates economic determinants.