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"A powerful group of essays, and the topics addressed in the respective chapters are interesting, insightful, and thought-provoking" David Serlin, author of Replaceable You: Engineering the Body in Postwar America " Lots of food for thought...will be of interest to those wanting to stretch their views on health care" - Library Journal
Product Description
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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5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smart collection of essays, July 25 2011
By Kecia Ali "Kecia Ali" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Against Health: How Health Became the New Morality (Paperback)
The fifteen thought-provoking essays in Against Health treat topics ranging from the seductive but dangerous promise of race-based drug development to the impact of potential nuclear annihilation on American concepts of "health." Two chapters survey the invention of particular diagnostic categories (passive-aggressive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder) and another reveals how pervasive drug company involvement in academic research on diseases and their treatment is. One consistent theme is the ways in which individual responsibility for "healthy" (read: morally good) behavior increasingly obscures larger patterns by which social inequalities in access to good food, medical care, and recreation are created and sustained. (For instance, people "run for a cure" and celebrate cancer survivorship but do not organize against widespread carcinogenic environmental contaminants.) Though some of what emerges is scary, the book is not fear-mongering. The essays are relatively short but based on serious research and careful analysis. They also build on each other and play off each other in interesting ways. Accessibly and clearly written, without a great deal of jargon, this book will forever alter the way one thinks about the rhetoric and reality of health.
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