Abstract
If you are unsure about what you want to do with your life, then—if in the United States—you can seek out a ‘Wantologist’. If you are starting college at an American university, you will likely be introduced to a ‘Campus Wellness Contract’. Even though most examples stem from the United States, we also learn about how wellness influences work with unemployed citizens in Swedish job centers, obesity treatment in Denmark and the United Kingdom, and so on. The examples are many in The Wellness Syndrome—a book that convincingly conduct an analysis that shows how the sensation of pleasure, bodily self-care, and positive thinking have all become key demands of nowadays’ citizens. Wellness has become a syndrome and its symptoms—if staying within medical terminology—are anxiety, self-blame, and guilt.
We are dealing with a brief, accessible, and well-written book that overall seeks to problematize the demands of wellness faced by the citizens of present day’s Western societies. It may thus be regarded as an extension of books such as Metzl and Kirkland’s Against Health from 2010. Judging from the worldwide interest already created by this book in newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, and The Sydney Morning Herald, its audience is not confined to the world of academia. Rather, the book is intended for socially engaged citizens, commentators, and politicians, who may all stock up on valid points derived from a myriad of empirical examples as to why one should turn one’s back to the wellness wave. Naturally, the book is also intended for researchers such as health researchers, organizational researchers, sociologists, anthropologists, and other contemporary engaged diagnosticians, who critically examine present day’s Western societies. Above all, the book is a contemporary diagnosis that finds inspiration from various scholars such as Boltanski, Bourdieu, Deleuze, Douglas, Foucault, Freud, Lash, Hochschild, Rose, Sontag, Turner, and Zizek as well as from various empirical studies of our current society and its ‘obsession’ with wellness, health, and positive thinking.
With reference to the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the authors put forth an analysis of how today’s Western citizens are not only subject to project ‘it’ but that present day citizens are also imprisoned by project ‘you’. When meeting an old acquaintance, we not only ask how ‘it’ is going—in doing so referring to bourgeois symbols of family and a white picket fence. We increasingly ask how are ‘you’—referring to, for example, the sports ambitions of our acquaintance, his or her personal development, and general state of wellness. In other words: Today we are not only confined by project ‘it’ of the bourgeoisie—we are increasingly expected to gaze inward and be prepared to render an account of our personal self-development project ‘you’.
The problem with the development outlined by the authors is, however, the paradox that we become more and more unhappy, the more we consult coaches or ‘wantologists’ in search for a greater sense of well-being or a more positive way of thinking than previously. With reference to cultural critic and philosopher Slavoj Zizek, Cederström and Spicer argue that when the object is our physical well-being and mental happiness, then the objectives are in principle unobtainable. We can always exercise more, eat healthier, pursue new goals, and we can always become happier. Put differently, we are by definition unfinished or works in progress, why the inherently narcissistic project ‘you’ is bound to make us unhappy. It leaves us anxious and fills us with self-blame and guilt when we continuously experience that the target of our overall sense of wellness has—yet again—moved further away.
Although most examples of the negative consequences of the wellness wave stem from the United States, it is of course not only in the United States that project ‘you’ has made headway. Also in Denmark, where I live, we see parents of small children and other busy people spend endless amounts of time training for the next Ironman, searching for inner peace in various yoga classes, becoming skilled within the exact culinary arts that provide optimal wellness for the body, and so on. Danes also diligently use the many modern gadgets that measure our lives, from sleep patterns, food habits, and fatigue to physical activity, satisfaction with our jobs, and so on. The book points to a new movement, ‘The quantified self movement’, which is the ultimate project ‘you’ where members engage with all of these measurements and compare their results (their own results, of course) as they continuously strive to improve them—even though doing so is, as mentioned, a never-ending and unobtainable exercise that will only result in new demands along with the faithful companions: Self-blame and guilt.
‘Fat Acceptance’ and ‘Bug Chasing’ (gay men who deliberately chose not to use condoms in efforts to live dangerously) are two other phenomena described in the book, which at first glance could be regarded as a type of organized resistance to the health focus of the wellness wave. With frequent reference to Zupancic’s (2008) concept of ‘biomorality’, that is, ‘a person who feels good (and is happy) is a good person; a person who feels bad is a bad person’ (p. 5), the authors argue that wellness is not only about health. Wellness is to a large degree also about authenticity and individuality and centers the (thin and illness-free) body of the individual. In this way and quite paradoxically so, ‘Fat Acceptance’ and ‘Bug-Chasing’ become examples of other citizen-strategies that—despite their stance against the health focus—are connected with and perhaps supporting the wellness wave as these citizens are also in search of authenticity and individuality.
Any book has of course its shortcomings and this book is no exception. On the cover you see two hands holding a knife and a fork, respectively, in the process of cutting medical pills on a plate. Underneath this image, the title reads: The Wellness Syndrome. This cover led my thoughts to the pharmaceutical industry and its major economic interest in unhappy citizens in need of medication. Nevertheless, Cederström and Spicer show no interest in the role of powerful organizations such as the pharmaceutical industry in relation to this new, Western ‘syndrome’ (see, for example, Rose, 2003, 2007). It seems obvious that there exist very powerful and economically strong organizations in Western societies with quite vested interests in the (new) large focus on citizen’s happiness and overall sense of well-being. It would have suited the book well, had it made attempts to include these economically powerful organizations in the analysis. Essentially, you are left wanting more than a mere diagnosis of the society of which we are all part and which we all actively reproduce on a daily basis. As a reader, you would like to have a few suggestions as to how things have been able to take such a turn for the worse, but in this regard the book offers no answers.
Another shortcoming—which paradoxically is also a key strength of the book—is the many empirical examples presented as anecdotes and the amount of classic sociologists and philosophers who are introduced and discussed in very few words. The strength is obvious: The arguments of the authors seem convincing as they are supported by substantial amounts of recent, empirically grounded research. It is also very useful—not least in the capacity as supervisor—to be presented with such rich numbers of sociologist and philosophers who are relevant to read and use in critical analyses of the phenomena ‘wellness’, ‘health’, ‘positive thinking’, and so on. The danger is unfortunately also obvious: What are the positions of Cederström and Spicer? Which concepts have been central to the organization of their analysis? Or put differently: Which research questions or problems invite such an eclectic approach as used by the authors?
Finally, this reviewer—who admittedly has a sociological background—also misses seeing the wellness wave examined and discussed in relation to social class as, arguably, not all citizens in Western societies adhere to or seek to live in accordance with the wellness ideals. What about the group of citizens that in earlier times were captured within the category of underprivileged? How do the key values of the wellness wave (authenticity, individuality, control, etc.) affect present day citizens with little money at their disposal? Does the wellness wave, as suggested by some contemporary scholars, contribute to creating A-level and B-level citizens?
These final points of criticism must not, however, cloud my warmest recommendation of this book for all readers of Organization who are interested in research that attempts to suggest how to diagnose and understand present day’s Western society. This also applies to readers whose area of research does not lie within the fields of health, sociology, or psychology. My points of criticism should perhaps rather be regarded as suggestions for future interesting analyses, which this book identifies but does not pursue.