ABSTRACT
People manage their appearance, particularly their weight, in order to make attractive social presentations and obtain positive social reactions. Many strive to manage appearance through weight control because thinness is widely valued and rewarded in contemporary postindustrial societies. Yet how do people construct their weight-related identities and manage them in social situations? How is the ideal presentation of weight shaped by social and cultural contexts? What roles do organizations play in shaping weight ideals? Are reinterpretations of cultural expectations about body weight possible? The chapters in this volume explore these various questions, focusing on the symbolic and interpretive processes involved in managing fatness and thinness. In the following sections, we provide a thematic overview of the chapters in this book.
