Over the last three decades, ideas about health have been influenced by neoliberal politics. Robert Crawford coined the term healthism to refer to this dominant ideology that places much responsibility on the individual to achieve a level of health while avoiding ill-health. The moral obligation to live a health-promoting lifestyle has become increasingly pronounced in North America, thus activities, services, and products that promote a high level of health have gained considerable attention. In this social context, Lululemon Athletica, a yoga-inspired retail store that sells athletic apparel primarily to “active” women, has flourished. This thesis focuses on Lululemon Athletica as a site in which to examine health ideologies in contemporary North American capitalist culture and exposes the ways in which Lululemon has incorporated health ideologies as a vehicle to corporate success. This thesis is based on a discourse analysis of two primary texts produced by Lululemon Athletica: Lululemon’s website, www.lululemon.com, and a 150-page Lululemon Athletica memoirs book. Three themes emerged from the analysis: Lululemon incorporates 1) healthist ideologies, 2) yoga as a holistic health practice, and 3) lifestyle branding techniques into the company’s promotional materials and retail practices in order to develop a corporate identity that seems timely, relevant and profitable. My analysis affirms the potency of healthism in North American society and reveals that Lululemon’s strategic use of dominant healthist ideologies has helped the retailer to capture a large market and gain considerable corporate success. This project ultimately provides awareness of the dominant, yet largely taken-for-granted health ideologies that currently circulate in North American society. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-06 10:27:01.881

Bed bugs were once considered eliminated from the United States, so recent resurgence of this pest has been cause for concern. Presence of these troublesome insects has resulted in the proposal of controversial policies. For example, the state of Ohio petitioned the EPA for a FIFRA Section 18 emergency exemption to use the insecticide propoxur, a neurotoxin, to treat bed bug infestations in the state. In this thesis, I analyzed public comments for the exemption, task force reports, and media to examine how health and the urban indoor environment are framed in this decision-making process. Though bed bugs carry stigma, those who have them are not overtly blamed for the pest. However, an inability to eliminate them effectively is situated as a lack of personal responsibility. A political ecology of health analysis and healthism are used to understand how narratives of health and personal responsibility justify use of this pesticide.

This thesis presents results from a qualitative study of how young women make sense of their fitness practices. Fitness practices related to diet and exercise are culturally linked to both appearance and health and tend to focus more on changing or maintaining the outside of body (appearance) rather than the inside (health) (Carlisle Duncan, 1994; Dworkin & Wachs, 2009; Smith Maguire, 2008).Young Canadian women are inundated with messages from both the public and private sectors about the imperative to be healthy. Many of these messages suggest that getting healthy will change our lives for the better. Four university-educated, middle class, white women; the demographic which is most marketed to by the fitness industry (Rhode, 2010; Smith Maguire, 2008) were recruited to take part in a study about how they understand their fitness practices. My research involved a focus group and individual follow-up interviews with each of the four participants. Discussion topics included participants’ perceptions of the ideal body that applies to them and what participants saw their motivations and influences for their fitness practices to be.The data arising from the group shifted the project’s focus from “fitness” toward broader questions about what it means to be “healthy” in today’s culture. In the context of pervasive neoliberal notions of health, my analysis explores some lines of intersection between social class and fitness/health as they relate to discourses of physical capital (Bourdieu, 1978, 1996; Shilling, 2003, 2004) and healthism in today’s society (Crawford, 1980, 2006). My analysis reveals that many young women are negotiating a paradox in that they engage in fitness practices, despite their knowledge of feminist body image critiques. The desire to build and convert physical capital and the intense pressure to appear “healthy” in the midst of a supposed “obesity epidemic” are strong motivators for the women’s fitness practice routines. The young women in my study are reifying a socially constructed hierarchy of bodies which favours thin bodies over fat bodies. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-14 10:24:36.797

This thesis examines health promotion discourse in Ottawa during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore what it means to be a responsible citizen. Using press releases/special statements and tweets from January 2020 to November 2022 from city officials and city departments in Ottawa, this thesis employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) to explore potential changes in health promotion discourse and meaning-making, asking how citizenship was remade in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings support claims that health is increasingly neoliberalized, with a greater emphasis placed on individual health as a condition of responsible citizenship. This increased neoliberalization ultimately shifts our attention away from state responsibilities vis-à-vis citizens, and in this case, the neglected role of local governments in managing health crises.

Syfte - Syftet med studien är att bidra med förståelse av hur användare av aktivitetsarmbandoch tillhörande nätforum tillsammans konstruerar en lärmiljö och i så fall på vilka sätt dettakan erfaras hälsofrämjande.Teoretisk referensram - Den teoretiska referensramen tar upp de pedagogiska perspektivsom framträdde ur det empiriska materialet. Studien behandlar följande perspektiv: detsociokulturella perspektivet, Zone of proximal development, health literacy, Communities ofpractice och healthism.Metod - Studien har en livsvärldsfenomenologisk metodansats där datainsamlingengenomfördes genom två tillvägagångssätt. Författarna agerade studiesubjekt genom attanvända aktivitetsarmband och forum för att få tillgång till deltagarnas regionala livsvärld. Envirtuell grupp skapades på nätforumet Garmin connect där diskussioner fördes mellandeltagare och författare. Urvalet bestod av 8 personer från Sverige, Storbritannien, Brasilienoch USA.Resultat - Health literacy visade sig vara av vikt för att på ett optimalt sätt tillgodogöra sigaktivitetsarmbandets data. Lärandeprocesser skedde genom samspel och interaktion inätforumet. Hälsofrämjande effekter med armband och forum kunde urskiljas i form av högrefysisk aktivitetsnivå, motivation, inspiration och glädje. Potentiellt hälsoskadliga effekteridentifierades i överaktivitet och övertro på armbandet.Slutsats - Dagens selftracking-verktyg är ofta tekniskt avancerade men pedagogiskt mindregenomtänkta. Broar bör byggas mellan selftracking-verktygen och de pedagogiska processersom sker i användarna som brukar dem. / Aim - The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding in which users of activitytrackers and the connected netforum together construate a learning environment and if and inwhat ways this can be perceived as health promoting.Theoretical framework - The theoretical framework presents the pedagogical perspectiveswhich appeared in the empiric material. The study adresses the following theories andperspectives: the sociocutural perspective, Zone of proximal development, health literacy,Communitites of practice and healthism.Method - The study has a lifeworld phenomenological method. The data collection wascompleted in two different methods. The writers used the activity tracker and net forum togain access to the users life world. A virtual discussion group was created where particapantsand the writers discussed the activity tracker and net forum. Selection: 8 participants fromSweden, Great Britain, Brazil and USA.Result - Health literacy proved to be significant when interpreting the data from the activitytracker. Learning processes occured in the net forum through interaction. Health promotingfactors like increased physical activity level, motivation, inspiration and joy were found bothregarding activity tracker and netforum. Potentially harmful effects on health were found,hyperactivity and an over-reliance to the actvity tracker.Conclusion - Todays selftracking tools are often technically advanced but pedagogicallyinsufficient. Bridges should be built between selftracking tools and the pedagogical processeswhich occur within the individuals using these tools.

Partant du thème de la pratique du fitness, l’étude qui suit explore la réalité de femmes engagées dans un rôle de coache fitness en ligne et propose une analyse sociologique de leur expérience. Dans un premier temps, le mémoire présente une réflexion sur la responsabilité individuelle de santé qui pèse sur l’individu d’aujourd’hui, renforcée par un discours médiatique populaire, le « healthism discourse », menant à une obligation morale de se maintenir en forme, de prendre en charge son état de santé par l’activité physique et l’alimentation. Cette conception de la santé a favorisé l’évaluation de l’état de santé par le corps; pour être considéré comme un individu en santé, il faut arborer un corps en forme. La nouvelle norme esthétique féminine est celle d’un corps non seulement mince, mais aussi ferme et musclé. Permettant l’atteinte d’un tel corps, le fitness devient pour de nombreuses femmes un moyen privilégié en ce qui concerne la prise en charge de leur condition corporelle. Le mémoire souligne par la suite l’émergence de l’usage d’Internet et des réseaux sociaux comme source d’information sur la santé menant à l’investissement d’entraineurs personnel sur les sites tels que Facebook et Instagram. Recourir à un soutien personnalisé dans sa pratique du fitness à partir des réseaux sociaux est désormais possible et trouve preneur plus spécifiquement auprès de la gent féminine. L’analyse de cette étude s’appuie sur des entrevues semi-directives réalisées auprès de cinq femmes québécoises qui se sont engagées dans un rôle de coache fitness en ligne sur le réseau social Facebook. L’engagement dans un rôle de coache fitness en ligne est traité comme une « carrière » à travers laquelle nous dégageons différentes phases entreprises par les coaches afin de développer leur « carrière de coache fitness en ligne » (connectée, disntinguée, constante). Nous analysons par la suite les différents outils, stratégies et discours qu’elles mobilisent afin d’encadrer et susciter l’engagement de leur clientèle dans la pratique du fitness sous l’angle d’une « biopédagogie ». / Starting from the theme of fitness practice, the following study explores the reality of women engaged in a online fitness coaching role and offers a sociological analysis of their experience. At first, the thesis presents a reflection on the individual responsibility for health that weighs on the individual today, reinforce by a popular media discourse, the ‘‘healthism discourse’’, leading to a moral obligation to maintain oneself by taking charge of their health through physical activity and diet. This conception of health has facilitated the body’s assessment of state of health: to be considered a healthy individual, one must have a fit body. The new female aesthetic standard is a body that is not only slim, but also firm and muscular. Fitness being a practice that allows the achievement of such a body, becomes a privileged means for many women when it comes to taking charge of their body. The brief subsequently highlights the emergence of the use of Internet and social media as a source of health information leading to many personal trainers investing in sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Recourse to personalized support in its practice of fitness from social networks is now possible and finds takers more specifically among women. The analysis of this study is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with five Quebec women who have taken on the role of online fitness coach on the social network Facebook. Engagement in an online fitness coach role is treated as a ‘‘career’’ through which we identify different phases undertaken by coaches in order to develop their ‘‘online fitness coach career’’ (connected, distinguished, constant). We then analyze the various tools, strategies and discourses they use in order to supervise and encourage the engagement of their customers in the practice of fitness from the angle of a ‘‘biopedagogy’’.

abstract: Dominant discourses of health and fitness perpetuate particular ideologies of what it means to be “healthy” and “fit,” often conflating the two terms through conceptualizing the appearance of physical fitness as health. The discourse of healthism, a concept rooted in the economic concept of neoliberalism, fosters health as an individual and moral imperative to perform responsible citizenship, making the appearance of the “fit” body a valued representation of both health and self-discipline. This perspective neglects the social determinants of health and ignores the natural variation of the human body in shape, size, and ability, assuming that health can be seen visually on the body. Through a case study of one particular location of a popular commercial gym chain in an urban city of the Southwestern United States, this study employs a critical discourse analysis of the gym space itself including a collection of advertisements, photographs, and signs, in addition to participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted with diverse women who exercise at this gym to explore how women resist and/or (re)produce discourses of healthism related to health, fitness, and body image. Ultimately, critical analysis shows that the gym itself produces and reifies the discourse of healthism through narratives of simultaneous empowerment and obligation. Though women in the gym reproduced this dominant narrative throughout their interviews, internal contradictions and nuggets of resistance emerged. These nuggets of resistance create fractures in the dominant discourse, shining light into areas that can be explored further for resistance practices through sense-making, necessitating a language of resistance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Communication 2019

This study examines discourse on youth health embedded in the current Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum in an attempt to unveil any discrepancies between students’ beliefs regarding physical activity and body image and the curriculum they receive in physical education classes. This study will explore how students who participate in this curriculum narrate and experience their bodies to explore any contradictory or complimentary relationships that exist between the curriculum and the students it serves. Recent academic work in the area of health and physical activity has placed undue emphasis on obesity and on an individuating view of the inactive, unhealthy individual to be remediated by a corrective physical education program. This is not only damaging to the self-esteem of youth, but unrealistic as a program aligned with middle-class access to resources associated with ‘active living’ in the ways advocated for by proponents of this version of health promotion.

This study examines discourse on youth health embedded in the current Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum in an attempt to unveil any discrepancies between students’ beliefs regarding physical activity and body image and the curriculum they receive in physical education classes. This study will explore how students who participate in this curriculum narrate and experience their bodies to explore any contradictory or complimentary relationships that exist between the curriculum and the students it serves. Recent academic work in the area of health and physical activity has placed undue emphasis on obesity and on an individuating view of the inactive, unhealthy individual to be remediated by a corrective physical education program. This is not only damaging to the self-esteem of youth, but unrealistic as a program aligned with middle-class access to resources associated with ‘active living’ in the ways advocated for by proponents of this version of health promotion.

Uppsatsens syfte är att ur ett sociologiskt perspektiv belysa vilken påverkan sociala medier har på en grupp aktiva individer och hur de tror att andra påverkas i förhållande till hälsosamma inlägg. Vi ser även på effekterna som uppkommer när individen möts av den hälsosamma livsstilen på sociala medier. Studien baseras på kvalitativ metod och tolv semistrukturerade samtalsintervjuer med fysiskt aktiva individer som använder sig av plattformerna Facebook och Instagram. Analysen  baseras på Konsumtionens modetåg och Symboliskt kapital. Vi har även använt oss avtredjepersonseffekten. Resultatet av uppsatsen visar att intervjupersonerna till stor del är påverkad av hälsosamma bilder genom sociala medier trots att de är medvetna om att en bättre bild av individen framförts. Vi såg att sändare samt innehåll var stora faktorer till hur informanterna mottog information och ansåg sig påverkas. / The purpose of this study is to highlighting from a sociological perspective the impact that social media has on a group of active individuals and how they think others are affected in relation to healthy posts. We also look at the effects that arise when the individual is confronted with the healthy lifestyle on social media. We also study the how these effects have an impact on the individual's identity. The study is based on qualitative methods and twelve semi-structured interviews with physically active individuals who make use of the platforms Facebook and Instagram. The analysis is based on Consumption and Symbolic capital. We also use the third-person effect to gain a deeper analysis on the individual's influence. The results of the paper show that the respondents are largely influenced by the heathy mage provided through social media. We saw that the sender and the contents were big factors in how informants received the information and considered himself influenced.