The Psychology of Overeating

Food and the Culture of Consumerism

Kima Cargill

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781472581075
• eBook ISBN: 9781472581105
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Agricultural Public Policy
• Index: Psychology

Drawing on empirical research, clinical case material and vivid examples from modern culture, The Psychology of Overeating demonstrates that overeating must be understood as part of the wider cultural problem of consumption and materialism. Highlighting modern society's pathological need to consume, Kima Cargill explores how our limitless consumer culture offers an endless array of delicious food as well as easy money whilst obscuring the long-term effects of overconsumption. The book investigates how developments in food science, branding and marketing have transformed Western diets and how the food industry employs psychology to trick us into eating more and more – and why we let them. Drawing striking parallels between 'Big Food' and 'Big Pharma', Cargill shows how both industries use similar tactics to manufacture desire, resist regulation and convince us that the solution to overconsumption is further consumption. Real-life examples illustrate how loneliness, depression and lack of purpose help to drive consumption, and how this is attributed to individual failure rather than wider culture. The first book to introduce a clinical and existential psychology perspective into the field of food studies, Cargill's interdisciplinary approach bridges the gulf between theory and practice. Key reading for students and researchers in food studies, psychology, health and nutrition and anyone wishing to learn more about the relationship between food and consumption.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents 
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Rise of Consumer Culture
• 3. The Psychological Effects of Consumer Culture
• 4. Food, Money, and Consumer Culture
• 5. How the Food Industry Uses Psychology to Trick Us (and Why We Let Them)
• 6. Sugar and Sweet
• 7. Hyperpalatable Foods, Hormones, and Addiction
• 8. Binge Eating Disorder, the DSM, and Consumer Culture
• 9. The Bedfellows of Consumer Culture: Big Food and Big Pharma
• 10. The Regulation of Well-Being: FDA and the Nanny State
• 11. Conclusion
• Works Cited
• Index
• Imprint