ABSTRACT
This chapter considers ways of thinking about sociocultural contexts that can be broadly positioned within the ‘big picture’ of obesogenic environments. A foundational assumption is that a range of influences upon the ‘landscapes’ of consumption and physical activity help shape place-specific attitudes and behaviours. Further, and regardless of how such influences become inscribed in the material landscape, I argue for their construction in part through language and talk. In the chapter, a series of case studies is presented to illustrate both the range of discursive influences at work within sociocultural environments and the methodological approaches needed to identify and interpret them. Discussion focuses on ‘talk’ as well as other texts and symbols that help frame everyday experience and trigger contemporary debate about obesity. To this extent, the chapter is concerned with the discursive settings in which experience is produced and occurs.
