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Sugar Rush

Science, Politics and the Demonisation of Fatness
Series: Inscriptions
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( 15 ratings, 3 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Sugar Rush examines the societal crusade against sugar in the early twenty-first century, revealing how sugar became the common enemy in debates around obesity and health. Karen Throsby explores the complex social, political, and cultural factors behind the demonisation of sugar, challenging the purely scientific narratives. The book draws on diverse sources including government policy, media, and personal accounts to argue that the anti-sugar movement reflects deeper anxieties and inequalities in contemporary society.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in public health, social policy, nutrition debates, and cultural studies. It offers valuable insights for educators, health professionals, and anyone curious about the politics behind dietary trends.

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Sugar rush argues that despite its revolutionary claims, the contemporary attack on sugar represents a politics of despair, entrenching rather than disrupting the inequality-riddled status quo.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the crusade against sugar rose to prominence as an urgent societal problem about which something needed to be done. Sugar was transformed into the common enemy in a revived 'war on obesity' levelled at 'unhealthy' foods and the people who enjoy them. Are the evils of sugar based on purely scientific fact, or are other forces at play?

Sugar Rush explores the social life of sugar in its rise to infamy. The book reveals how competing understandings of the 'problem' of sugar are smoothed over through appeals to science and the demonisation of fatness, with politics and popular culture preying on our anxieties about what we eat. Drawing on journalism, government policy, public health campaigns, self-help books, autobiographies, and documentaries, the book argues that this rush to blame sugar is a phenomenon of its time, finding fertile ground in the era of austerity and its attendant inequalities.

Inviting readers to resist the comforting certainties of the attack on sugar, Sugar Rush shows how this actually represents a politics of despair, entrenching rather than disrupting the inequality-riddled status quo.

Series: Inscriptions

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  • Sugar Rush
    In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the crusade against sugar rose to prominence as an urgent societal problem about which something needed to be done. Sugar was transformed into the common enemy in a revived 'war on obesity' levelled at 'unhealthy' foods and the people who enjoy them. Are the evils of sugar based on purely scientific fact,...
    Paperback
    $7999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Embodiment and Everyday Cyborgs
    Implanting the human body with human/animal organs or implantable devices not only changes what you are but also changes who you are. If you were in need of an organ transplant, would you prefer organs from other humans or non-human animals, or would you choose a 'cybernetic' medical implant? Using a range of social science methods and drawing on the...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Jayne Raisborough, author of Fat Bodies, Health and the Media, praises the book as a smart and excellent challenge to prevailing questions about sugar, urging readers to reconsider the dominant narratives.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781526151551

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 20 June 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Manchester University Press

Illustration: 4 graphs

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 390g

Pages: 304

About the Author

Karen Throsby has been researching issues of gender, technology, bodies and health for over 20 years, including work on reproductive technologies, weight loss surgery and endurance sport. She is the author of Immersion: Marathon Swimming, Identity and Embodiment (2016) and When IVF Fails: Feminist, Infertility and the Negotiation of Normality (2004). She is currently Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Leeds.

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