Contested Meanings about Body, Health, and Weight: Science, Social Justice, and Free Market Framing Competitions.

Sociologists have long recognized that social problems do not solely derive from objective conditions but from a process of collective definition (Blumer 1971; Mauss 1977). At the core of social problems are competitions and, specifically, framing competitions - struggles over the production of ideas and meanings (Benford and Snow 2000). This paper examines how cultural meanings about overweight and obesity are developed and promulgated. Through frame analysis of organizational materials, I document three competing frames - the medical frame, social justice frame, and market choice frame - produced by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), activists at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), and food industry representatives at the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), respectively. While each cultural producer uses different devices to disseminate their cultural message, there is notable and rather unexpected overlap between the signature elements of all three frames. All framers appeal to scientific research and sensible action, however uniquely defined. In turn, each frame has different outcomes for social equality and how society thinks of fat bodies. Using the "framing matrix" (Gamson and Lasch 1983; Gamson and Modigliani 1987), I explore each frame's key "signature elements" and discuss its social and cultural significance. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]