Navigates the divergent cultural meanings of health, and its
entanglement with morality in current political discourse You see
someone smoking a cigarette and say,“Smoking is bad for your
health,” when what you mean is, “You are a bad person because
you smoke.” You encounter someone whose body size you deem
excessive, and say, “Obesity is bad for your health,” when what
you mean is, “You are lazy, unsightly, or weak of will.” You
see a woman bottle-feeding an infant and say,“Breastfeeding is
better for that child’s health,” when what you mean is that the
woman must be a bad parent. You see the smokers, the overeaters,
the bottle-feeders, and affirm your own health in the process. In
these and countless other instances, the perception of your own
health depends in part on your value judgments about others, and
appealing to health allows for a set of moral assumptions to fly
stealthily under the radar. Against Health argues that health is a
concept, a norm, and a set of bodily practices whose ideological
work is often rendered invisible by the assumption that it is a
monolithic, universal good. And, that disparities in the incidence
and prevalence of disease are closely linked to disparities in
income and social support. To be clear, the book's stand against
health is not a stand against the authenticity of people's attempts
to ward off suffering. Against Health instead claims that
individual strivings for health are, in some instances, rendered
more difficult by the ways in which health is culturally configured
and socially sustained. The book intervenes into current political
debates about health in two ways. First, Against Health
compellingly unpacks the divergent cultural meanings of health and
explores the ideologies involved in its construction. Second, the
authors present strategies for moving forward. They ask, what new
possibilities and alliances arise? What new forms of activism or
coalition can we create? What are our prospects for well-being? In
short, what have we got if we ain't got health? Against Health
ultimately argues that the conversations doctors, patients,
politicians, activists, consumers, and policymakers have about
health are enriched by recognizing that, when talking about health,
they are not all talking about the same thing. And, that
articulating the disparate valences of “health” can lead to
deeper, more productive, and indeed more healthy interactions about
our bodies.
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