Governing bodies : American politics and the shaping of the modern physique / Rachel Louise Moran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moran, Rachel Louise, author.

Series:

Politics and culture in modern America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physical education and training--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Physical education and training.

Human body--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Human body.

Diet--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Diet.

Physical fitness--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Physical fitness.

Health promotion--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century.

Health promotion.

Health promotion--Political aspects.

Human body--Political aspects.

Physical education and training--Political aspects.

History.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

216 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2018]

Summary:

"Americans are generally apprehensive about what they perceive as big government--especially when it comes to measures that target their bodies. Soda taxes, trans fat bans, and calorie counts on menus have all proven deeply controversial. Such interventions, Rachel Louise Moran argues, are merely the latest in a long, albeit often quiet, history of policy motivated by economic, military, and familial concerns. In Governing Bodies, Moran traces the tension between the intimate terrain of the individual citizen's body and the public ways in which the federal government has sought to shape the American physique over the course of the twentieth century. Distinguishing her subject from more explicit and aggressive government intrusion into the areas of sexuality and reproduction, Moran offers the concept of the "advisory state"--the use of government research, publicity, and advocacy aimed at achieving citizen support and voluntary participation to realize social goals. Instituted throug h outside agencies and glossy pamphlets as well as legislation, the advisory state is government out of sight yet intimately present in the lives of citizens. The activities of such groups as the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Children's Bureau, the President's Council on Physical Fitness, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) implement federal body projects in subtle ways that serve to mask governmental interference in personal decisions about diet and exercise. From advice-giving to height-weight standards to mandatory nutrition education, these tactics not only empower and conceal the advisory state but also maintain the illusion of public and private boundaries, even as they become blurred in practice. Weaving together histories of the body, public policy, and social welfare, Moran analyzes a series of discrete episodes to chronicle the federal government's efforts to shape the physique of its citizenry. Governing Bodies sheds light ^on our present anxieties over the proper boundaries of state power." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction. Weight of the Nation

The Advisory State World War I Made: Scientific Nutrition and Scientific Mothering

Boys into Men: Depression-Era Physique in the Civilian Conservation Corps

Men into Soldiers: World War II and the Conscripted Body

Selling Postwar Fitness: Advertising, Education, and the President's Council

Wasted Bodies: Emaciation and the War on Poverty

Poor Choices: Weight, Welfare, and WIC in the 1970s

Conclusion. Governing American Bodies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780812250190

0812250192

OCLC:

1002117324