Fitness as cultural phenomenon

In this book, sixteen authors from North America and Germany investigate the fitness phenomenon and its cross-cultural exchange, providing historical, sociological, psychological, anthropological, medical and philosophical perspectives. Fitness is characterized as an „attempt to reconstruct the self" of people living in modern societies. The roots of the ongoing fitness movement go back to the 1970s in the USA; at the end of the twentieth century this movement has successfully spread to other highly industrialized nations in the world, including Germany. It is not simply a response to the current health crisis in advanced societies, rather fitness has become an integral part of modern life style, - a cultural phenomenon. Reasons for the rise of fitness are culture specific as well as global and transnational. This cross-cultural comparison of two advanced nations, here Germany and the USA, closes historical gaps and sheds light onto the complexity of the issue. Contributions of Kerstin Behm, Anne Bolin, Gunter Gebauer, Heather Gibson, John Hoberman, Wildor Hollmann, Alan Klein, Günther Lüschen, Jasmin Tahmaseb McConatha, Christiane Mielke, Otto Penz, Gertrud Pfister, George Sage, Gerhard Uhlenbruck, Karin A. E. Volkwein, Johannes B. Zohner-Nassi.