Sobiech „Forever Young?“

Intersectional Perspectives on Aging, Fitness, and Health
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-658-47415-7
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 241 Seiten

Reihe: Social Sciences

The demographic change presents new, primarily financial challenges for the state, politics, and the economy (level of power and domination relations). Aging (doing age) should be understood as a social construct that primarily offers self-empowerment opportunities for those who can follow the trend of age activation through sports/fitness due to higher educational qualifications and greater financial resources, and who maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The goal of this project was to analyze fitness studio advertising from an intersectional and inequality-reflective perspective based on the structural categories of body/aging, gender, and class. It aimed to interview trainers with a focus on older active individuals (representation level) and to take a differentiated look at the self-techniques of older women active in fitness studios gathered through a qualitative interview study (subject level). On one hand, working on the body can strengthen one's own social positioning; on the other hand, devaluing others who do not follow the trend can give rise to a new form of 'lookism.'

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sobiech, Gabriele

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Fitness and health in neoliberal societies in the reflection of gender, age, and social status.- Health systems and social inequalities in comparison Germany – USA.- Fitness studios and demographic change – analysis of images of aging, fitness discourses, and trainer expertise.- Methodological foundation and methodological approach.- Interview study with women aged 60-80 in comparison Germany (Kirchzarten/Freiburg) – USA (Amherst).- Summary and literature.

Über Autor(innen)

Dr. Gabriele Sobiech  is a Professor of Sport and Body Sociology as well as Gender Studies at the University of Education Freiburg in Breisgau.