Obesity in the News Language and Representation in the Press

Obesity is a pressing social issue and a persistently newsworthy topic for the media. This book examines the linguistic representation of obesity in the British press. It combines techniques from corpus linguistics with critical discourse studies to analyse a large corpus of newspaper articles (36 million words) representing ten years of obesity coverage. These articles are studied from a range of methodological perspectives, and analytical themes include variation between newspapers, change over time, diet and exercise, gender and social class. The volume also investigates the language that readers use when responding to obesity representations in the context of online comments. The authors reveal the power of linguistic choices to shame and stigmatise people with obesity, presenting them as irresponsible and morally deviant. Yet the analysis also demonstrates the potential for alternative representations which place greater focus on the role that social and political forces play in this topical health issue.

ISBN:	9781108818971
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Imprint:	Cambridge University Press
Published date:	25 Nov 2021
DEWEY:	302.230941
DEWEY edition:	23
Language:	English
Number of pages:	280
Weight:	442g
Height:	152mm
Width:	229mm
Spine width:	21mm

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