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The Social Construction of ‘Good Health’

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Communication and Health

Abstract

This chapter offers an exploration of the assumptions and values vis-à-vis what constitutes ‘good health’ where good health is defined as a co-constructed state of idealized expectations, performances, embodiments, and patterns of consumption dominated by gendered and technophilic knowledge regimes that reproduce regimented and coercive Western standards of health and beauty. Issues of social idealization, food trends (both dominant and counter-hegemonic), dietary norms, and identity positions are taken up and examined through the lens of embodiment and a critical approach to health studies. A case is made for substantive change to this approach in line with health justice and fat activist movements.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This is in opposition to the social determinants of health model discussed further on.

  2. 2.

    Ella Mills is a British Instagrammer (with 1.7 million followers), food blogger, and health food entrepreneur with her own line of health food products (deliciouslyella.com).

  3. 3.

    Nutritional reductionism refers to the process by which the value of food is gaged solely by its biochemical properties (e.g. calories, fat, minerals, micronutrients) etc. (Scrinis, 2012).

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  1. Department of Media, Culture and Heritage, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Tina Sikka

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  1. Department of Communication, Media and Film, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Charlene Elliott

  2. School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Josh Greenberg

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Sikka, T. (2022). The Social Construction of ‘Good Health’. In: Elliott, C., Greenberg, J. (eds) Communication and Health. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4290-6_12

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