Table Of ContentBody Problems
Ben Agger
For the fi rst time in human history, people in industrial societies have access to an
abundance of calories. Changes in work, transportation, housing, leisure, and diet
have created a perfect storm: People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup,
marbled meat, and processed food, but don’t expend these calories in exercise.
Health problems of obesity, hypertension, and high cholesterol have been the result.
Body industries such as dieting, gyms, personal training, fashion, and even bariatric
surgery attempt to heal the wounds created by mass-produced food and sedentary
work and leisure. Long-distance runners do not depend on body industries and
the medical model of body sciences to live a whole and healthy life. Th e pioneering
training theories of Kenneth Cooper, Bill Bowerman, and Arthur Lydiard are
explained. An Indian tribe called the Tarahumara, native long-distance runners who
run barefoot and in thin sandals, is discussed. Also considered are people who run
marathons, ultramarathons, trail races, and transcons—3,000 mile journeys across
the U.S. and 4,000 miles across the Sahara Desert!
Ben Agger is Professor of Sociology and Humanities and directs the Center for
Th eory 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 Th e Sixties at 40.
Framing 21st Century Social Issues
Th e goal of this new, unique Series is to off er readable, teachable “thinking frames” on today’s social
problems and social issues by leading scholars. Th ese are available for view on http://routledge.custom
gateway.com/routledge-social-issues.html.
For instructors teaching a wide range of courses in the social sciences, the Routledge Social Issues
Collection now off ers 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 Rout-
ledge and other presses.
As an instructor, click to the website to view the library and decide how to build your custom
anthology and which thinking frames to assign. Students can choose to receive the assigned materials
in print and/or electronic formats at an aff ordable price.
Body Problems The Future of Higher Education
Running and Living Long in a Fast-Food Dan Clawson and Max Page
Society
Ben Agger Waste and Consumption
Capitalism, the Environment, and the Life of
Sex, Drugs, and Death Things
Addressing Youth Problems in American Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi
Society
Tammy Anderson Rapid Climate Change
Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
The Stupidity Epidemic Scott G. McNall
Worrying About Students, Schools, and
America’s Future The Problem of Emotions in Societies
Joel Best Jonathan H. Turner
Empire Versus Democracy Outsourcing the Womb
The Triumph of Corporate and Military Race, Class, and Gestational Surrogacy in a
Power Global Market
Carl Boggs France Winddance Twine
Contentious Identities Changing Times for Black Professionals
Ethnic, Religious, and Nationalist Confl icts in Adia Harvey Wingfi eld
Today’s World
Daniel Chirot Why Nations Go to War
A Sociology of Military Confl ict
Mark Worrell
Body Problems
Running and Living Long
in a Fast-Food Society
Ben Agger
University of Texas, Arlington
First published 2011
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
The right of Ben Agger to be identifi ed as author of this
work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset in Garamond and Gill Sans by EvS Communication Networx, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or uti-
lized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Agger, Ben.
The stupidity epidemic : worrying about students, schools, and America’s future /
Ben Agger.
p. cm. — (Framing 21st century social issues)
1. Educational accountability—United States. 2. Educational productivity—United
States. 3. Education—Political aspects—United States. I. Title.
LB2806.22.A38 2011
370.973—dc22
2010027986
ISBN13: 978-0-415-89198-1 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-83428-2 (ebk)
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Preface ix
I. Th ere was no Body Problem until Modernity: Descartes, Henry Ford,
Corn Syrup, Highways 1
II. Too Much of a Good Th ing, and Th e Invention of Exercise 9
III. Body Sciences 17
IV. Body Industries 27
V. Beyond Body Work 36
VI. Coda: Toward ‘Slowmodernity’ 52
References 57
Glossary/Index 60
Contents v
Series Foreword
Th e world in the early 21st century is beset with problems—a troubled economy,
global warming, oil spills, religious and national confl ict, poverty, HIV, health prob-
lems associated with sedentary lifestyles. Virtually no nation is exempt, and everyone,
even in affl uent countries, feels the impact of these global issues.
Since its inception in the 19th century, sociology has been the academic discipline
dedicated to analyzing social problems. It is still so today. Sociologists off er not only
diagnoses; they glimpse solutions which they then off er to policy makers and citizens
who work for a better world. Sociology played a major role in the civil rights move-
ment during the 1960s in helping us to understand racial inequalities and prejudice,
and it can play a major role today as we grapple with old and new issues.
Th is series builds on the giants of sociology, such as Weber, Durkheim, Marx, Par-
sons, and Mills. It uses their frames, and newer ones, to focus on particular issues of
contemporary concern. Th ese books are about the nuts and bolts of social problems,
but they are equally about the frames through which we analyze these problems. It is
clear by now that there is no single correct way to view the world, but only paradigms,
models, which function as lenses through which we peer. For example, in analyz-
ing oil spills and environmental pollution, we can use a frame that views such out-
comes as unfortunate results of a reasonable eff ort to harvest fossil fuels. “Drill, baby,
drill” sometimes involves certain costs as pipelines rupture and oil spews forth. Or we
could analyze these environmental crises as inevitable outcomes of our eff ort to domi-
nate nature in the interest of profi t. Th e fi rst frame would solve oil spills with better
environmental protection measures and clean-ups, while the second frame would
attempt to prevent them altogether, perhaps shifting away from the use of petroleum
and natural gas and toward alternative energies that are “green.”
Th ese books introduce various frames such as these for viewing social problems.
Th ey also highlight debates between social scientists who frame problems diff erently.
Th e books suggest solutions, both on the macro and micro levels. Th at is, they suggest
what new policies might entail, and they also identify ways in which people, from the
ground level, can work toward a better world, changing themselves and their lives and
families and providing models of change for others.
Series Foreword vii
Readers do not need an extensive background in academic sociology to benefi t
from these books. Each book is student-friendly in that we provide glossaries of terms
for the uninitiated that are keyed to bolded terms in the text. Each chapter ends
with questions for further thought and discussion. Th e level of each book is acces-
sible to undergraduate students, even as these books off er sophisticated and innovative
analyses.
In my own book on body problems, I examine the perfect storm created by sedentary
lifestyles, including offi ce work and reliance on the automobile, and the unprecedented
availability of processed, calorie-rich food, much of which contains high-fructose corn
syrup. For the fi rst time in human history people in affl uent countries suff er health
problems due to wealth, not poverty. I examine body sciences and body industries
devoted to healing us, and I explore their limitations such as a narrow focus on obesity
measured by the BMI. And I focus on the exercise movement, especially running, as a
way to combat sedentary lifestyles and even to fi nd meaning in our daily existence.
viii Series Foreword
Preface
For the fi rst time in human history, people in affl uent western societies have enough to
eat, and yet their lifestyles, including diet, reliance on the automobile, and desk jobs
pose health risks. For millennia before, the most urgent risk was starvation. Th anks
to Henry Ford’s system of mass production, we not only manufacture cars but also
grow food in such abundance that the horn of plenty has become a threat to public
and personal health. Body sciences and body industries have arisen in order to meet
the challenge of healing people who have too much of a good thing. But I contend that
our body problems are best resolved by exercise, especially running.
In this book, I examine the strange fact that we did not identify body problems
until the dawn of the modern age; desk jobs and the invention of exercise during the
1970s; body sciences such as medicine and single-number indicators of health and ill-
ness; body industries such as gyms, weight-loss programs, and fashion; the fi rst and
second running revolutions, the tribe called the Tarahumara, ultramarathoners and
transcontinental runners; and, fi nally, ‘slowmodernity’—a blend of healthy lifestyles
from pre-industrial cultures and modern benefi ts such as literacy, technology, medi-
cine, and democracy. Above all, I ask how people can live healthier, less stressful, and
more meaningful lives by healing the split between their minds and bodies.
Preface ix
