Obesity in industrialized Western societies: A radicalized perspective between biomedical norms and social representations

This article offers an anthropobiological analysis of obesity in industrialized Western societies, at the intersection of biomedical norms and social representations of the body. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the author shows how classical oppositions between nature and culture or body and mind have given way to new dualities—identity/otherness, purity/impurity, chosen body/the imposed body. Epidemiological norms, notably those defined by the World Health Organization, are discussed in light of their biological and cultural variability across populations. The study traces the historical evolution of body ideals, from the valorization of full-bodied physiques in food-scarce societies to the contemporary glorification of thin, tightly controlled bodies. Once associated with fertility and prosperity, obesity now functions in affluent societies as a marker of moral laxity and social marginality. By examining the intertwined histories of body aesthetics and bodily politics, the author highlights the relationships between medical discourse, social norms, and inequality. Obesity thus emerges as a contemporary figure of otherness, alongside racism, sexism, and ageism, revealing the political and moral dimensions of how bodies are perceived.