This book addresses the relationship between the body and society in a fast-food society. Agger focuses on issues of food, exercise, work, dieting and eating disorders, fashion, bariatric and cosmetic surgery, and health. He addresses the dilemma that we have ample access to abundant calories but lead lifestyles and have jobs that for the most part do not enable us to expend those calories. He proposes solutions, both individual and structural, that involve re-orienting ourselves to exercise as play. The book can be used in introductory sociology, social problems, work, sociology of sport, gender, health and illness. The goal of this new, unique Series is to offer readable, teachable "thinking frames" on today's social problems and social issues by leading scholars, all in short 60 page or shorter formats, and available for view on http://routledge.customgateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social Issues Collection now offers the best of both worlds: originally written short texts that provide "overviews" to important social issues as well as teachable excerpts from larger works previously published by Routledge and other presses.

Author Biography

Ben Agger is Professor of Sociology and Humanities and directs the Center for Theory at the University of Texas at Arlington. Having received his higher education in Canada (BA and MA, York University, and PhD, University of Toronto), he does interdisciplinary work in critical social theory, media/cultural studies, and body sociology. He edits the journal Fast Capitalism (www.fastcapitalism.com), and his most recent book is The Sixties at 40.