Anthony Giddens • Sociology 5th Edition

Sociology and Eating Disorders

• Introduction
• Interview
• Additional materials

Have you ever worried about what you eat, or tried to change your body shape through diet or exercise?

There’s a strong chance that you will answer ‘yes’ to this question, regardless of whether you are male or female. It is sometimes assumed that worrying about food and body shape, as well as problems like anorexia and bulimia, are only associated with women. Recent reports that the former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott suffered from bulimia for more than twenty years have drawn attention to the increased incidence of eating disorders amongst men. The National Centre for Eating Disorders reports that between 5 to 10% per cent of people suffering from bulimia are male, while men account for between 1 and 5% of those diagnosed with anorexia.

It’s no coincidence that concerns about the food we eat, and eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, have become much more widespread in the last thirty years. In developed countries a huge variety of foods are available, to those who can afford them, at any time of the day, month or year. In a typical supermarket, customers are faced with endless choices – a whole aisle of yoghurts, forty different breakfast cereals, and specialist ingredients from all over the world. What we eat is no longer decided for us by the changing seasons, or the foods that are available locally. Instead, people in developed countries have to make a seemingly endless series of choices about what, when and how they eat. It seems these anxieties can affect men as much as women.

Sociologists are interested in the ways that the changes associated contemporary social life have led to increased anxieties about food and eating, and an explosion in the number of people diagnosed with eating disorders. They are also interested in the role played by gender.

This month Anthony Giddens discusses how the rise of eating disorders can be linked to social change. He also talks about the increasing prevalence of eating disorders in the developing world, and amongst men.

Why do you think eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are so prevalent in today's society?

I would relate the rise of eating disorders to some of the major changes that have happened in society as a result of globalization. The self-denial of food has been known in previous periods of history – for example in mediaeval Europe it was not unusual for people seeking salvation to fast for prolonged periods. However, eating disorders as we think of them today were relatively uncommon until the 1960s, from which time they have become more and more widespread. Food production became globalized at this time, partly because new ways of storing and transporting food large distances across the world were invented. The rise of supermarkets, which sell produce from all over the world, is a basic factor lying behind the fact that we all now have to construct a 'diet' for ourselves - in other words, we have to decide what to eat in relation to what we want to be and how we want to look. We choose our diets in relation to how we see ourselves.

I wrote about some of these issues in Modernity and Self-Identity. For individuals, the sheer sense of being caught up in huge waves of global transformation is perturbing, and has dramatic consequences for the way we see ourselves. I’ve said these changes lead to ‘ontological insecurity’, meaning that we become deeply anxious about our own existence. Self-identity has to be constantly made and remade against the backdrop of countless social changes, and often involves an element of trying to exert control over the social world, for example in terms of one’s lifestyle. Eating disorders can be seen as a consequence of the need for individuals to have control. It’s a striving for security and control in a world of plural, and ambiguous, options.

This situation produces particular pressures for women, and in particular young and teenaged girls, who are still judged by their appearance, in spite of the increasing freedoms that women enjoy in other respects. Fashion models are almost all very thin, and set a standard many girls aspire to. Once girls start to starve themselves, or resort to vomiting and other measures to stay or become thin, an addictive cycle can set in; there is no limit at which they can say 'I am thin enough'. Like any other form of addictive behaviour, it is very hard to break out of. Hence it is possible to die from anorexia. It has been reported that the mortality rate among young women with anorexia is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all other causes amongst 15 to 24 year old women.

Fewer people suffer from eating disorders in developing countries than in developed countries, but the numbers appear to be increasing. Why do you think this is happening?

In many developing countries there is not enough food to go around. People die of lack of food in some such countries simply because when there is a famine, there isn’t enough to eat. 'Starving to death' in this context is therefore totally different from anorexia, which only develops where food is plentiful. In societies where food is scarce, being fat is usually seen as a sign of health and wealth, whether in men or women. However, in developing countries (like India, for instance) where some of the population - normally in the urban centres - are becoming as affluent as people in the West, eating disorders are starting to take off. The rise of anorexia can be linked to increasing prosperity in these countries. People - and especially girls and women - in such settings are in much the same situation as their counterparts in the developed countries, and subject to much the same stresses and strains. The global media also promote the same ultra-thin models who are admired in the developed world.

How would you explain the increasing prevalence of disordered eating amongst young men?

Men and women are affected equally by the kinds of social changes I’ve been talking about, but it’s relatively recently that men have become concerned about their appearance and physical attractiveness. These pressures are now affecting men in substantial numbers, although as yet not to anything like the degree to which they influence women. This phenomenon is visible, for instance, in the rising numbers of men in Western countries who use face creams and other cosmetics; and the increasing numbers of men electing to have plastic surgery to improve their appearance or 'stay young'. Men tend to be more interested than women in developing a muscular body than an ultra-thin one, but they can still get caught in an addictive cycle just like girls and women. For some men, this can lead to the abuse of steroids and other body-building drugs, or a compulsion to exercise. Men’s striving for security and control often expresses itself in different ways.

Should governments try to tackle eating disorders, or should they be seen as purely personal problems?

Anorexia and bulimia are forms of addictive or compulsive behaviour - in such a situation, the individual has essentially lost control of his or her behaviour. He or she is not free, but dominated by anxieties that are running out of control. It is rare for people to recover from addictions on their own - they almost always need help. Governments have to play a role in providing such help, especially for those who cannot afford to pay for treatment themselves. As I just mentioned, anorexia kills many more young women than any other form of illness or accident, so it’s something that should be treated seriously. Voluntary associations also can play a big role. There are many such groups that have been set up to help sufferers, and many of them offer free support either online or on the phone.

Additional materials

Guide to researching eating disorders in Sociology

There’s a whole section devoted to this issue on p. 252-254 of the ‘Health, Illness and Disability’ chapter. This begins with two startling photographs, which contrast a malnourished African young woman, and a British teenager suffering from anorexia. The chapter goes on to discuss the links between late modernity and disordered eating, and includes data on the prevalence of eating disorders in developed and developing countries. The chapter also discusses gender differences in disordered eating, the sociology of the body, and the role played by the globalization of food production. To understand the new pressures faced by individuals in today’s world, it would be useful to look at chapter two ‘Globalization and the Changing World’, particularly p. 67-68 which examine the rise of individualism. Pages 122 and 123 also provide some useful background to debates about what Giddens terms our ‘runaway world’.

Internet links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/21/health.johnprescott?gusrc=rss&feed=
networkfront
Recent newspaper coverage of the former British Deputy Prime Minster’s experiences of bulimia.

http://www.eating-disorders.org.uk/docs/males.doc
Report from the National Centre for Eating Disorders about eating disorders amongst men. The main part of this site also includes links to recent data on the prevalence of eating disorders in contemporary society.

http://eatingdisorders.suite101.com/
Portal containing links to basic information about eating disorders, and numerous recent articles on topics related to eating disorders.

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=651&sectionId=109
List of organisations offering support to anyone affected by eating disorders.

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