Bissell, P., Peacock, M. orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-0439, Blackburn, J. et al. (1 more author) (2016) The discordant pleasures of everyday eating: Reflections on the social gradient in obesity under neo-liberalism. Social Science & Medicine, 159. pp. 14-21. ISSN 0277-9536
Abstract
Despite widespread epidemiological evidence of a social gradient in obesity, there has been less attention focused on understanding this from a sociological perspective. Furthermore, whilst pleasure is an obvious feature of contemporary cultural representations of food and eating, this has not figured prominently in sociological understandings of the social gradient. Using qualitative data from biographical interviews conducted with adults living in materially deprived parts of South Yorkshire (UK) we introduce the idea of discordant pleasure in relation to everyday eating as a way of shedding light on the social gradient in obesity. We highlight in particular, the ways in which materially deprived individuals who were defined as obese described the tensions between the pleasures of eating and the struggles for bodily control, alongside the affective dimensions - frustration and shame - that this process engendered. We draw on Berlant's work on lateral and interruptive agency to make sense of these accounts, suggesting that classed agency and discordant pleasure are important dimensions in understanding the social gradient in obesity under neoliberalism.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Social Science & Medicine. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Agency; Biographical interviews; Neoliberalism; Obesity; Shame; Social gradient; UK |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NOTTINGHAM CITY NHS XXATURNER PCT/ScHARR/FSF/11-12 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 26 May 2016 15:49 |
Last Modified: | 23 Apr 2017 23:45 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.026 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.04.026 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:100213 |