Physical Education, Exercise Science and the Idea of the Obesity Crisis - Prof. Tinning

Plenary Session "Chances and Challenges for Physical Activity and Learning - Sustainable Movements and Movement Cultures"

Sport science and the idea of the obesity crisis: A memetic consideration
Tinning, R.
University of Queensland

The obesity crisis is a major issue that both orients and galvanizes the fields of physical education and exercise science. We can
think of the obesity crisis as having a biological dimension, a psychological dimension, and a socio-cultural dimension. This
presentation offers a socio-cultural approach to understanding the obesity crisis as an idea. A crisis is a characterization of the
perceived severity or urgency of a particular problem, but “problems are not just ‘out there’ like objects of nature; they are socially
constructed” (Lawson, 1984). Naming something as a crisis is not simply a benign public reaction to an issue or phenomenon of
serious concern. It can be used as a tool for shaping/influencing particular agenda. Importantly, this is not the result of a conspiracy of
scientists and politicians, but occurs instead through a complex process of the social production of knowledge. Whatever its
multi-factorial causes, the idea of an obesity crisis has certainly “caught on.” But why has it caught on, and why now? In order to
investigate this question, I will apply a memetic analysis that is based on the concept of a meme. A meme, a term first coined by
evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is claimed to be the cultural equivalent of a gene and a unit of cultural transmission.