Mærket: En undersøgelse af 'overvægtiges' selvforståelser og handlemuligheder

Abstract

This report elaborates on how the sense of self and the possibilites for taking action are impacted in connection to specific discoursive constitutions of a subject position as 'overweight' in a comtemporary Danish context. We draw on a range of social constructionist views, ex. Michel Foucault (2002), Browyn Davies & Rom Harré (1990) and Vivien Burr (2003), as well on a mainstream framework understanding of the processes of in- and exclusion, represented by Brenda Major & Collette Eccleston (2005). Our starting point is a discoursive analysis of different constructions of the 'overweight' subject as represented within the Danish TV-program Debatten7. With these as a foundation, we discuss how the positions made available impacts on the subject, it's sense of self and it's possibilities for change. As a central point, we discover that pro-normative behaviour, such as eliminating the stigma, can be viewed as a solution to several of the problems that surrond stigma-based exclusion. Though this might be beneficial to the individual subject, we underline that such behaviour also can be viewed as a practice that reproduces the existing cultural constructions of the subject position 'the overweight' and the negative connotations that are closely related to this. Psychology, Bachelor, Fall 2010