The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity

It serves as a <"rosetta stone>" because it explains how seven different social science disciplines (epidemiology, demography, anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics, and political science) study diet, physical activity, and obesity.
It provides rich and detailed syntheses on the major causes and consequences of obesity. The causes examined include: socioeconomic status, peer effects, food marketing, agriculture policy, and food prices. The consequences examined include: medical costs, mortality, schooling and test scores, employment and wages, and discrimination.
It describes how social science research can inform and improve policies to prevent and reduce obesity, such as food taxes and subsidies, school-based interventions, worksite interventions, community interventions, restrictions on food marketing, anti-obesity drugs, and bariatric surgery.
This volume represents a very rare example of a very diverse set of social scientists overcoming their disciplinary boundaries and differences to share information and insights; for that reason it is of interest even to social scientists who are not particularly focused on obesity.
For newcomers to the study of obesity, the volume provides Section 2, which describes the data available for the study of obesity, describes the challenges in identifying causal effects in obesity research, and discusses complex models of obesity.

There is an urgent need to better understand the causes and consequences of obesity, and to learn what works to prevent or reduce obesity. The purpose of this volume is to accurately and conveniently summarize the findings and insights of obesity-related research from the full range of social sciences, including anthropology, economics, government, psychology, and sociology. The first section of the book explains how each social science discipline models human behavior (in particular, diet and physical activity), and summarizes the major strains of obesity research in that discipline. The second section provides important information for researchers, including a guide to publicly available social science data on obesity and an overview of the challenges to causal inference in obesity research. The third part of the book synthesizes social science research on specific causes and correlates of obesity, such as food advertising, food prices, and peers. The fourth section summarizes social science research on the consequences of obesity, such as lower wages, job absenteeism, and discrimination. The fifth and final section reviews the social science literature on obesity treatment and prevention, such as food taxes, school-based interventions, and medical treatments such as anti-obesity drugs and bariatric surgery.

This volume is designed to meet the growing need of researchers for accurate and well-written summaries of the large amount of recent studies on this topic. This handbook will be of great use for researchers in every social science discipline, both bringing them up to date on the relevant research in their own discipline and allowing them to quickly and easily understand the cutting-edge research being produced in other disciplines. It is a volume that every obesity researcher will want to have on his or her shelf. These research summaries are valuable for researchers, public health officials, policymakers, nutritionists, and medical practitioners.

Readership: Social science researchers (from any discipline) studying diet, physical activity and obesity. This includes both seasoned researchers who have studied obesity for years, advanced researchers who wish to enter the field of obesity, and graduate students who are looking for dissertation ideas or research agendas. Additional audiences include: clinicians (that is, physicians and medical researchers), nutritionists, public health officials, policymakers, and the media. Graduate or undergraduate level classes in the social science of obesity. The book provides valuable chapters on how each social science discipline studies diet, physical activity and obesity, and provides in-depth syntheses of the research studying the major causes and consequences of obesity, as well as the possible treatments and solutions.