The Library

Obesity surgery and the management of excess : exploring the body multiple

Tools

Throsby, Karen, 1968-. (2012) Obesity surgery and the management of excess : exploring the body multiple. Sociology of Health & Illness, Vol.34 (No.1). pp. 1-15. ISSN 0141-9889

Preview

PDF
WRAP_Throsby_210312-obesity_surgery_and_the_management_of_excess_1.1.11.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (191Kb)

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01358.x

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic data gathered through observations and interviews at a surgical weight management clinic in a large hospital, this article argues that while the core values governing the provision of obesity surgery (obesity = ill health; obesity surgery = weight loss; weight loss = improved health and cost savings) can be seen as governing the clinical encounter, the singularity of these collective equations reflects neither the complexity of the patient experience of obesity surgery nor the extent to which the war on obesity itself does not adhere strictly to those principles. Drawing on Annemarie Mols concept of the body multiple, and focusing on three different forms of excess (excess weight, excess consumption and excess skin) that emerged in the course of the study, this article argues that the rationalised singularity of obesity that is enacted in the obesity surgery clinic risks obscuring the uncertainties inherent to those practices and the moral judgements and values that are ultimately inextricable from them.

[error in script] [error in script]

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology R Medicine > RD Surgery
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Obesity -- Surgery -- Social aspects, Obesity -- Surgery -- Moral and ethical aspects
Journal or Publication Title:	Sociology of Health & Illness
Publisher:	Blackwell
ISSN:	0141-9889
Date:	January 2012
Volume:	Vol.34
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	pp. 1-15
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01358.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC)
Grant number:	REF 000-22-2643 (ESRC)
References:	Balsamo, A. (1999) Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Durham; London: Duke University Press. Bordo, S. (1993) Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body. Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press. Buchwald, H., Avidor, Y., Braunwald, E., Jensen, M. D., Pories, W., Fahrbach, K. and Schoelles, K. (2004) Bariatric surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis, JAMA, 292(14), 1724-1728 Campbell, D. (2009). Fire crews 'are lifting obese patients daily'. The Guardian (13 March, 2009) Cohen, S. (2002). Folk Devils and Moral Panics (Third Edition). London: Routledge. Edwards, P. and Roberts, I. (2009) Population adiposity and climate change, International Journal of Epidemiology, 38, 1137-1140 Ellis, J. E., Macknight, M. and Wilkinson, J. R. (2006) Obesity Surgery in England: an Examination of the Health Episode statistics 1996-2005, Obesity Surgery 17(3), 400-405 Foresight (2007) Tackling Obesity: Future Choices - Project Report. London: Government Office for Science Herndon, A. M. (2005) Collateral damage from friendly fire?: race, nation, class and the "war against obesity”, Social Semiotics, 15(2): 127-141 Mitka, M. (2006) Surgery useful for morbid obesity, but safety and efficacy questions linger, JAMA, 296(13), 1575-1577 Mol, A (2002) The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice, Durham: Duke University Press Monaghan, L. F. (2007) McDonaldizing Men's Bodies? Slimming, associated (ir)rationalities and resistances, Body & Society, 7(13), 67-93 Morton, E. (2009) World's Fattest Bloke Lives in Ipswich. The Sun (20 October, 2009) Murray, S. (2005) (Un/be)coming out? Rethinking fat politics, Social Semiotics, 15(2), 153-163 Murray, S. (2009) 'Banded bodies': the somatechnics of gastric banding. Sullivan, N. and Murray, S. (eds) Somatechnics: queering the technologisation of bodies. Farnham, Ashgate. pp. 153-170 NHS Information Centre (2010) NHS weight-loss stomach surgery on obese people doubles in two years. London, NHS. (Press release, 10 February, 2010) NICE (2006) Obesity: the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children. NICE Guideline. First draft for consultation, March 2006. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. O'Brien, P. (2007) The Lap-Band Solution: A partnership for weight loss. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing Ritzer, G. (2004) The McDonalization of Society: Revised New Century Edition. London: Sage Royal College of Surgeons (2010) Conference hears of "unfair and unethical" access to NHS weight loss surgery (Press release, 23 January, 2010) Ryden, A. and M. D. Torgerson (2006) The swedish Obese Subjects Study - what has been accomplished to date?, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 2, 549-560 Singhal, R. Kitchen M., Bridgwater, S. and Super, P. (2008) Metabolic outcomes of obese diabetic patients following laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, Obesity Surgery, 18(11), 1400-1405 Singhal, R. and Super, P. (2009) Role of laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding in the treatment of obesity and related disorders, British Journal of Diabetes and Vascular Disease, 9(3), 131-133 Sjostrom, L., Lindroos, A., Peltonen, M., Torgerson, J., Bouchard, C., Carlsson, B., Dahlgren, S, Larsson, B., Narbro, K., Sjostrom, C.D., Sullivan, M. and Wedel, H. (2004) Lifestyle, diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors 10 years after bariatric surgery, New England Journal of Medicine, 351(26), 2683-2693 Sjostrom, L., Narbro, K., Sjostrom, C.D., Karason, K., Larsson, B., Wedel, H., Lystig, T., Sullivan, M., Bouchard, C., Carlsson, B., Bbengtsson, C., Dahlgren, S., Gummesson, S., Jacodson, P., Karlsson, J., Lindroos, A., Lonroth, H., Naslund, I., Olbers, T., Stenlof, K., Torgerson, J., Agren, G., and Carlsson, L.M.S. (2007) Effects of bariatric surgery on mortality in Swedish Obese Subjects, New England Journal of Medicine, 357(8), 741-752 Spitzack, C. (1990) Confessing Excess: Women and the Politics of body Reduction. New York: State University of New York Press Throsby, K. (2008) 'That's a bit drastic': risk, blame in accounts of obesity surgery. In Throsby, K. and Alexander, F. (eds) Gender and Interpersonal Violence: Language, Action and Representation. Basingstoke: Palgrave. pp. 83-99 Throsby, K (2009) The war on obesity as a moral project: weight loss drugs, obesity surgery and negotiating failure, Science as Culture, 18, 201-216. Webb, H. (2009) ‘I've put weight on cos I've bin inactive, cos I've 'ad me knee done’: moral work in the obesity clinic, Sociology of Health and Illness 31, 6854-6871 Wheatley, E. E. (2006) Bodies at Risk: An Ethnography of Heart Disease. Aldershot: Ashgate White, C. (2009) An Uncertain Cure: Living with Leprosy in Brazil. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press Wood, L. A. and Kroger, R. O. (2000) Doing Discourse Analysis: Methods for Studying Action in Talk and Texts. London: Sage.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/41930