The Biopolitics of Lifestyle

This work focuses on the biopolitical use of lifestyle to govern individual choice and secure population health from the threat of obesity. The characterization of obesity as a threat to society caused by the cumulative effect of individual lifestyles has led to the politicization of daily choices, habits and practices as potential threats.

Christopher Mayes is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine (VELiM).

Introduction - The Lifestyle Problematic Chapter 1 - Obesity, bioethics and the lifestyle dispositif Chapter 2 - Lifestyle as Politics: Choice and Responsibility Chapter 3 - Lifestyle as Health: Articulating an 'Urgent Need' Chapter 4 - Lifestyle as Identity: Consumption and the Ethics of the Self Chapter 5 - A Cacophony of Guidance: Hearing, Seeing and Judging Choices Chapter 6 - Styles of Resistance: The Body, Counter-Conduct and Critique Chapter 7 - Relations of Care: Restless and Endless Transformation Conclusion - Style, Solidarity and Security