Conflict Theory Obesity
Childhood obesity has become a growing problem in the Unites States for the past few decades, which is the condition of having excess body fat. In the United States, the rate of childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970’s. Today, we can expect about one in five children ages 6-19 to be obese. Childhood obesity can lead to many negative long-term impacts on a person’s physical and emotional health and increases the risk for asthma, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, lower self esteem, and various different types of cancer.
In 2016, Megan M. Kluge published an article called, Fast Food Is a Major Cause of Childhood Obesity, where she analyzes the causes of childhood obesity. Kluge discusses how childhood obesity is influenced …show more content…
These independent variables are: family eating habits, eating at fast food outlets, media influence, and the locations of fast food restaurants. Together, these factors have contributed weight gain amongst children and may eventually lead to childhood obesity. The theoretic perspective that would be most appropriate to analyze the social problem of childhood obesity would be conflict theory. The general ideology behind conflict theory is that there is a struggle for scarce resources present by groups within a society. This struggle usually leads to the elites using their power to control the weaker groups out of their own self-interest.
In regards to childhood obesity, the “elites” of society are the businessmen who run fast food chains that children love to go to. The people who run fast food chains know how to cleverly advertise to their audience, in this case children, so that their food will look more appealing. For children who grew up in households that were struggling financially, their parents may have taken them to fast food restaurants a lot growing up because fast food is typically inexpensive. The weaker groups, or the families who cannot afford to prepare a home cooked meals each night, will go to fast food outlets more often and eat foods that will cause their child to become overweight. The elites have taken advantage of the fact that many families are often too busy to prepare meals and that groceries are expensive, so they have provided a much faster and cheaper option for these people through fast
In 2016, Megan M. Kluge published an article called, Fast Food Is a Major Cause of Childhood Obesity, where she analyzes the causes of childhood obesity. Kluge discusses how childhood obesity is influenced …show more content…
These independent variables are: family eating habits, eating at fast food outlets, media influence, and the locations of fast food restaurants. Together, these factors have contributed weight gain amongst children and may eventually lead to childhood obesity. The theoretic perspective that would be most appropriate to analyze the social problem of childhood obesity would be conflict theory. The general ideology behind conflict theory is that there is a struggle for scarce resources present by groups within a society. This struggle usually leads to the elites using their power to control the weaker groups out of their own self-interest.
In regards to childhood obesity, the “elites” of society are the businessmen who run fast food chains that children love to go to. The people who run fast food chains know how to cleverly advertise to their audience, in this case children, so that their food will look more appealing. For children who grew up in households that were struggling financially, their parents may have taken them to fast food restaurants a lot growing up because fast food is typically inexpensive. The weaker groups, or the families who cannot afford to prepare a home cooked meals each night, will go to fast food outlets more often and eat foods that will cause their child to become overweight. The elites have taken advantage of the fact that many families are often too busy to prepare meals and that groceries are expensive, so they have provided a much faster and cheaper option for these people through fast