Evaluation of Sociocultural Theory and AN Flashcards
+ Increase in AN since 1950s
Diagnosis of AN has steadily increased since the 1950s. This increase correlated with the use of slimmer models - supports cultural emphasis on slimness has contributed to AN
+ Becker
Becker found that, in Fiji, before TV was introduced, girls were unlikely to be concerned with diet and slimming. After TV was introduced they were more concerned with diet and slimming - supports idea that cultural emphasis on thinness has contributed to AN
+ Austen and Smith (city in Mexico)
Austen and Smith found that, in a city in Mexico, school girls aged between 12 and 15 who showed high awareness of the thin ideal body type also scored highly in terms of body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms. Those who still showed Hispanic family values measured at a much lower risk for body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms - supports idea that those within cultures emphasising slimness more likely to develop AN
+ Holmes - AN treatment
Holmes found that in a group of eating disorder patients when sociocultural issues were addressed as part of treatment disordered eating practices were reduced - application to treatment for AN
+ Willemsen and Hoek - black woman with AN
Willemsen and Hoek found that a black woman who developed anorexia had grown up in a culture that valued voluptuousness as attractive. She developed AN after moving to a western culture valuing thinness - supports social emphasis on thinness contributes to AN / however, her AN could have been the result of other factors (e.g. biological), so absolute cause is unknown
- Not everyone
Many people live in societies that favour ‘thinness’ and do not suffer from AN - ignores biological explanations, for eg.
Feminist researchers - AN’s focus on young girls
Feminist researchers criticise the focus on young girls and their symptoms. These researchers argue that EDs are not a modern disease at all but have existed under various names for centuries. Moreover, EDs affect not just young girls, but older men and women too.
However, doctors and counsellors have tended to focus attention primarily on young girls and their bodies. The description of girls as highly prone to vulnerability is a means to confine young girls to specific roles that are approved of by western patriarchal societies where gender inequality still prevails. Disease creation, therefore, becomes a way of gender control:
- Theory is reductionist as it looks only at young girls so can only be used to explain anorexia in females
- Anorexia becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in suggesting that AN is a condition experienced only by women, leading women to develop the disorder
- Theory leads to a gender bias whereby female bodies are only focussed on, meaning men feel that they cannot have or seek help for the disorder
- Other cultures
AN exists in other cultures, not just those concerned with promoting thinness - suggests thinness in culture cannot be the only factor
