The Construction of Eating Disorders: Psychiatry, Politics and Cultural Representations of Disordered Eating

This book draws on original research to critically examine the social and industrial construction of eating disorders and disordered eating, in an analysis that encompasses psychiatry and health, cultural representations, and the politics of eating disorders. Centrally, it examines the extent to which eating disorders are not ‘made’ by individuals, but rather constructed by groups who claim investment, experience, and expertise in the diagnosis, labeling, treatment, and management of disordered eating. It demonstrates the impacts of biomedical, psychiatric, legal, pharmaceutical, technical and consumer groups, as well as that of the fast-food, fashion, media and social media industries. In doing so, it reveals how they shape the ways that eating disorders are perceived, spoken of, written about, and managed within institutions and wider society. It will appeal to students and scholars of mental health, critical psychology, medical sociology and anthropology and gender studies, and others interested in our future health.