Praiseworthy
Researcher from CBS receives the Danish Research Agency's Elite Researcher Award "Young Elite Researchers"
On 26 January 2006, Adjunct Nanna Mik-Meyer received the award “Young Elite Researchers” for her newly established sociological research project with the working title: “Risk discourse, morality, deviation, body sociology, institutional identities”. The study field is to take a closer look at how we in Denmark view people who suffer from obesity in order to draw conclusions on the welfare society that we are living in today.
“I am astonished at the intensive focus on obesity and overweight that we are experiencing in Denmark right now, and I wonder if the government with its political proposal is interfering with something that in reality belongs to the private sphere. My thesis is that unconsciously we view overweight people as being out of control and irresponsible – making them different from “the normal citizen”, explains Nanna Mik-Meyer.
The objective of the research is to bring awareness to the fact that the form in which the obesity debate is taking place today is emerging from trends in society that are historically determined.
“My research has an important function as it brings awareness to what we in every day life believe is all natural,” concludes Nanna Mik-Meyer.
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About the project: Assessment of risks is a type of knowledge that differs from a more common perception of knowledge in that assessment of risks by definition is not a complete knowledge, and at the same time it involves an element of danger. It is a type of knowledge which is saturated with morality, and which is generating prevention strategies that bring along an explosion of healthy individuals being at risk at a time where technological and medical knowledge are more developed. This project will analyze how the risk discourse on overweight is related to the design of concrete projects aimed at overweight people and their perception of identity. The project will connect the micro-sociology’s focus on interaction between people and single individuals’ descriptions of their situation with macro-sociological theory on risk and morality – perceived as two central characteristics in our contemporary society. The objective is to contribute to the development of the research that analyzes the extent to which the risk society is creating a somatic individual who despite being perfectly healthy is perceived as potentially ill and treatment demanding. The project includes a strong focus on the relation between assessment of risks and deviation. Furthermore, the objective is to analyze what impact assessment of risks has on healthy (potentially ill) individuals, and what role morality plays in the treatment of people who suffer from overweight. Central concepts are: risk, deviation, morality (responsibility), institutional identities, control, normality and treatment. The project uses qualitative methods, including observation of participants, content analysis of documentation and interview. |