Four new faculty books from the 天美影视传媒 cover topics ranging from inequality鈥檚 effects on health to fad diets to former German chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 legacy on gender equality. UW News talked with the authors to learn more about their recent publications.
Kima Cargill鈥檚 鈥楢nxious Eaters鈥� analyzes the appeal of fad diets
Most everyone has heard of fad diets: the kind that promise results with an ostensibly simple solution, whether a daily pill or a long-term meal plan.
Not to mention the 鈥渓ifestyle鈥� approaches to eating that aren鈥檛 just about weight loss: Think paleo, keto, all-organic, no-sugar, low-carb. Whatever the formula, diets tend to promote a slimmer, healthier, happier life.
But what they鈥檙e really doing, argues , professor of psychology at 天美影视传媒 Tacoma, is tapping into people鈥檚 larger worries about and desires for identity, status and transformation.
In their new book, 鈥�,鈥� Cargill and co-author Janet Chrzan dive into the types of diets, what they promise and what they yield, with some surprising finds. The early patriotic messages about weight loss, for example, or the politics around some fad diets today.
Published in 2022 by Columbia University Press, 鈥淎nxious Eaters鈥� was the product of a long collaboration with Chrzan, an adjunct assistant professor of nutritional anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Cargill focuses on the psychological and sociocultural issues around overeating, and teaches a class at UW Tacoma called 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淲hen we first started writing the book, we knew we wanted to write about specific named diets, like paleo or 鈥榗lean eating,鈥� because that鈥檚 how people think about them. Yet as we wrote, we found ourselves often repeating our ideas chapter after chapter, which reinforced one of our strongest observations,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淭hat same set of fears, beliefs and fantasies drive nearly all fad diets,鈥痚ven when the diets appear radically different.鈥疶hey are a lot like get-rich-quick schemes: There are always certain things about them that remain true.鈥�
Cargill and Chrzan see common themes that drive interest in fad diets: the typically American beliefs in individualism and willpower; the desire for self-transformation; and the role of consumerism. Ads, testimonials, before-and-after photos 鈥� all the stuff of fad diets.
鈥淲e believe we can transform ourselves, that if I just sign up for this thing and pay a lot of money, I鈥檒l be transformed,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淎t its core the book is quite philosophical, more about the wishes and fantasies we have, than about the diets themselves.鈥�
The authors aimed to give readers tools with which to analyze diets, not to cast judgment or recommend one diet over another.
Ultimately, losing weight 鈥� if that鈥檚 the goal 鈥� is about changing habits and behaviors. 鈥淔or most people, the only diet that really works is eating a little less than you do now, in perpetuity. Just eat a little less food, every day, forever,鈥� Cargill said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 deceptively simple, but it takes a long time.鈥�
For more information, contact Cargill at kcargill@uw.edu.
How inequality in US leads to poor health
The United States spends more on health care than any other country, but a United Nations Human Development Report released in September revealed that the U.S. ranks 44th in life expectancy among U.N. countries. That number drops even lower when non-U.N. countries are included.
Dr. , associate teaching professor emeritus of health systems and population health at the 天美影视传媒, examines this contradiction in his new book, 鈥�.鈥� Published by Rutledge in November, the book examines why the U.S. performs so poorly in health measures.
The answer isn鈥檛 lack of health care, as the U.S. spends as much on health care as the rest of the world combined. And Bezruchka said studies show that personal choices, such as smoking and diet, don鈥檛 make a significant impact on a country鈥檚 average life expectancy.
鈥淚 learned that social factors and political factors really matter more than medical care and personal behaviors,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淎 few things just hit me in the face. Namely, the longest-lived country is Japan, and they have two, three times as many men smoking there as we do.鈥�
The greatest risk factor, Bezruchka argues, is inequality.
鈥淚nequality is bad for you,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淎s a matter of fact, it kills you. It kills us all. We have a lot of rich people in this country, and they鈥檙e healthier than poor people. That鈥檚 always the case. Is there any way to escape inequality? Living in the United States, the answer is no.鈥�
Studies show that roughly half a person鈥檚 health as an adult is programmed in the first 1,000 days after conception, Bezruchka said. Healthier countries offer benefits that impact early life, such as parental leave. The U.S. and Papua New Guinea are the only U.N. countries that don鈥檛 require paid time off for new parents.
Other policies that help eliminate inequality include a fair taxation system, monthly child support payments, universal health care and guaranteed income. The U.S. focuses more on late-life programs, such as Social Security.
鈥淚n the United States, we have 70, 80 million people who either have no health care insurance or are vastly underinsured,鈥� said Bezruchka, who spent more than 10 years in Nepal working in health programs. 鈥淭he leading cause of bankruptcy in this country is inability to pay health care costs.鈥�
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed these issues. Studies have shown that more economic inequality leads to higher overall death rates from COVID, Bezruchka said, and the U.S. has highest number of recorded COVID deaths in the world.
Social determinants of health include racism, poverty, pollution, education, income and wealth. These factors stem from political context and governance, Bezruchka said. They are also among the leading causes of stress.
鈥淚 call stress the 21st-century tobacco,鈥� Bezruchka said. 鈥淭he U.S. offers individual solutions for stress and powerlessness. We get people to blame themselves for poor health instead of blaming the system. The book tries to make people recognize the system.鈥�
For more information, contact Bezruchka at sabez@uw.edu.
Angela Merkel 鈥榣ed from behind鈥� on gender equality
Even after 16 years as the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel鈥檚 legacy on gender equality in politics remains a mystery. To help rectify that, eight social scientists, feminists and gender scholars came together to write 鈥�.鈥�
, professor of international and European studies at the UW Jackson School of International Studies, initiated, co-edited and co-wrote a chapter for this project. It was written and edited with collaborators meeting on Zoom from countries around the world in an intense, two-year process.
Published by Routledge in December, the book investigates how Merkel, during her four governing periods, impacted gender equality policy in Germany and across Europe. Being the leader of a conservative party and a trained physicist from the former German Democratic Republic, or Communist East Germany, she initially did not see herself as a Western-style feminist.
鈥淥ne of the puzzles about Merkel’s legacy is that a lot of change happened in terms of German gender policy despite her being a conservative woman from a Christian conservative party, and despite her coming into office with really not a feminist agenda at all,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淪o how did she manage to get her own party on track for the policy changes that we saw in those 16 years?鈥�
One of the authors鈥� central findings, which led to the book鈥檚 title, is that Merkel often didn鈥檛 lead overtly in gender politics. Instead, she reacted to pressure from her social democratic coalition partners and from the level of the European Union in Brussels. She also allowed public opinion to inform her policy choice, such as in the passing of the German Marriage Equality Act.
Lang and her chapter co-author, Petra Ahrens from Tampere University in Finland, studied how the voluntary quota policies of the Christian Democratic Union evolved under Merkel鈥檚 reign from mere afterthoughts to a central demand of their women鈥檚 association.
鈥淎 fair number of German parties have quotas with which they promote women to higher positions on electoral lists or in party office 鈥� but the conservatives historically did not have a fixed quota,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淣ow, at the end of Merkel’s reign, they are starting to employ a gender quota and that was of interest to us. How did she get the party to see that there was no other choice but to take regulatory mechanisms into account?鈥�
The answer, the authors argue, is through 鈥渓eading from behind.鈥� While Merkel remained non-committal, she allowed space for others to push for tougher gender quotas.
鈥淪he showcased impressive advances in gender policies, but she facilitated more than that she led,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淭hat is why we need to see this legacy as mixed.鈥�
For more information, contact Lang at salang@uw.edu.