1. Meanings of Fat:
Obesity, Epidemics, and America’s Children
Elise Paradis, Ph.D. (Stanford)
Currie Postdoctoral Fellow| Wilson Centre
elise.paradis@utoronto.ca
4. Medical
F AT
Encompasses all the biological and
physiological factors that cause ill health
and disease, as well as the psychological
and sociological factors that influence
them.
7. Medicalized
O BESITY
The process whereby previously
non-medical conditions come under
medical purview.
Conrad 1992, 2005
8. Medicalized
O BESITY
It is the consequence of the expansion of
the medical profession, and seen in the
multiplication of publications, loci of
intervention, and claims to authority.
Conrad 1992, 2005
10. Medicalization
F A T & O B E S I TY
Read secondary literature on the history of fat
11. Medicalization
F A T & O B E S I TY
Read secondary literature on the history of fat
Queried PubMed / Medline database, 1950-2010
12. Medicalization
F A T & O B E S I TY
Read secondary literature on the history of fat
Queried PubMed / Medline database, 1950-2010
Normalized data to enable comparisons
(# of publications / total PubMed; 1985 data=100)
13. Medicalization
F A T & O B E S I TY
Read secondary literature on the history of fat
Queried PubMed / Medline database, 1950-2010
Normalized data to enable comparisons
(# of publications / total PubMed; 1985 data=100)
Mapped publication trends over time
14. Medicalization studies
(Conrad 1992, 2005; Zola 1983)
Neo-institutional studies of science
(Drori et al. 2003; Meyer 1977; Meyer 1987; Meyer and Jepperson 2000;
Meyer and Ramirez 2000; Meyer and Rowan 1978)
Studies in the social construction of
knowledge and scientific facts
(Berger 1966; Collins and Evans 2002; Fleck 1935; Hacking 1990,
1990; Latour 2004; Latour and Woolgar 1979; Swidler and Arditi 1994)
17. In this framework
M E D IC INE
A set of assumptions about the world
A cultural authority with descriptive and
normative powers
18. In this framework
M E D IC INE
A set of assumptions about the world
A cultural authority with descriptive and
normative powers
A legitimating force for individual,
organizational, and institutional beliefs
and actions
84. Meanings of Fat:
Obesity, Epidemics, and America’s Children
Elise Paradis, Ph.D. (Stanford)
Currie Postdoctoral Fellow| Wilson Centre
elise.paradis@utoronto.ca