Body Weight as a Social Problem

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the following questions by examining socially problematic aspects of weight. The questions are: What are the historical foundations of current conceptions of body weight? How have medical models dealt with weight issues? How do the gendered dimensions of weight relate to it as a social problem? The book discusses fundamental perspectives to examine social aspects of body weight: historical, medical, gendered, institutional, and collective. It provides more specific analyses of how weight has been constructed differently over time. The book lays out some of the institutional landscape within which body weight is interpreted, negotiated, and performed. It examines some important aspects of the social construction of weight as a social problem. Constructionist insights offer additional tools for those who practice in areas that deal with body weight as both a personal problem and a social issue.