Capitalism making you fat ?

Question

question for my sirc project, how much is capitalism responsible for obesity,

Answer 1

In a way it is very responsible, I mean look at how wealthy the big fast food chains are, they are well known in society and have a big impact on how we think because the ideas they promote (that fast food is good and we should eat it) are thrown around everywhere.

Marx states: the owners of production (bougeoisie) are promoting their values to the lower classes (proletariat) to continue capitalism via social controls.

If we put this in context, the values of the fast food chains (the means of production) are promoting their values to the rest of us, which causes people to follow their views and in turn, this has contributed to the seemingly never-ending and worrying problem of obesity.

(I'm not all that good at putting my ideas into words)

Answer 2

Capitalism isn't responsible for obesity at all. Technology is responsible. Most jobs today are sedentary because of high technology. Fattening, unhealthy food is available in quantity due to technology.

Answer 3

Burger king, McDonald's and other fast food is responsible for fat people.

The richer you are the easier it is to follow a good diet and pay for trainers.

Answer 4

The person who puts the food in their own mouth is the one who is responsible for being fat.  No one forced them to eat anything, it was a decision they alone made.

End of story.

Answer 5

I agree that capitalism has a part in the role, but the more important factors fall under "standard of living."

The poor have recently been hit by the obesity epidemic because the poor cannot afford to eat well. That sounds quite contradictory, doesn't it? But low-priced, ready-to-eat meals are much more alluring for a single mother with children to feed, for example, than they are to a married woman that doesn't leave the home. The married woman is likelier to be in a higher economic bracket.

Also, health and the cost of health insurance play a big part in this problem. The poor, obviously, cannot afford to have expensive operations or dietary plans, so they often succumb to unhealthy fad diets. If they lose the weight at all (which, statistically, very rarely happens), almost all of them gain it back.

It's not capitalism unto itself that causes obesity. The effects of poverty compounded with easy availability of food does.