The World Health Organization, physical activity and the contradictions of neoliberal health promotion
Resumen: This article constitutes the first holistic exploration of how neoliberalism permeates and manifests in Physical Activity Health Promotion (PAHP). It synthesises a critical analysis of neoliberalism with the sociological concepts of medicalisation and healthism and draws on three distinct phases and methods of data collection, to more adequately understand the development, prominence and largely uncritical acceptance of this domain of global public health. Specifically, it demonstrates how the World Health Organization’s (WHO) initial promotion of PAHP coincided with the organisation’s strategic re-alignment with neoliberal principles within a changing geopolitical landscape. Then, deploying a critical discourse analysis of the recent and globally significant WHO (2020) Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour, it shows how the underlying logics of neoliberalism continue to inform not only the intended policy goals but the inclusion and exclusion of certain types of evidence used to justify and evaluate policy. Subsequently, drawing on qualitative interview data and time-series survey data the article details how neoliberalism fosters the ideology of healthism, how this promotes forms of exercise which diverge from health maximising behaviours, and how this extends differences in physical activity uptake across the population, and therefore embeds the health inequalities PAHP is explicitly claimed to address. Outlining why PAHP, in particular, holds appeal for the WHO, we conclude that neoliberalism has both enabled the rapid development and broad political acceptance of PAHP, but concomitantly leads to outcomes which limit and confound the broader policy goals.
Idioma: Inglés
DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2023.2242874
Año: 2023
Publicado en: International Journal of Sport Policy Latest Article (2023), [15 pp.]
ISSN: 1940-6959

Factor impacto CITESCORE: 3.6 - Social Sciences (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management (Q3)

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.683 - Social Sciences (miscellaneous) (Q1) - Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management (Q2)

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)
Área (Departamento): Área Sociología (Dpto. Psicología y Sociología)

Creative Commons Debe reconocer adecuadamente la autoría, proporcionar un enlace a la licencia e indicar si se han realizado cambios. Puede hacerlo de cualquier manera razonable, pero no de una manera que sugiera que tiene el apoyo del licenciador o lo recibe por el uso que hace. No puede utilizar el material para una finalidad comercial. Si remezcla, transforma o crea a partir del material, no puede difundir el material modificado.


Exportado de SIDERAL (2024-07-31-09:52:59)


Visitas y descargas

Este artículo se encuentra en las siguientes colecciones:
Artículos



 Registro creado el 2023-10-23, última modificación el 2024-07-31


Versión publicada:
 PDF
Valore este documento:

Rate this document:
1
2
3
 
(Sin ninguna reseña)