Health e Prazer

8/18/2019 Health e Prazer

1/20

http://hea.sagepub.com

Health:

DOI: 10.1177/13634593030070028732003; 7; 161Health (London)

John Coveney and Robin BuntonPractice

In Pursuit of the Study of Pleasure: Implications for Health Research and

http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/7/2/161 The online version of this article can be found at:

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

can be found at:Health:Additional services and information for

http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/alertsEmail Alerts:

http://hea.sagepub.com/subscriptionsSubscriptions:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navPermissions:

http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/7/2/161SAGE Journals Online and HighWire Press platforms):

(this article cites 13 articles hosted on theCitations

© 2003 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. by martita vilarinho on May 24, 2008http://hea.sagepub.comDownloaded from

http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://hea.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://hea.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://hea.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/7/2/161http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/7/2/161http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/7/2/161http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://hea.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://hea.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts


2/20

In pursuit of the study of

pleasure:implications forhealth research andpractice

John Coveney & R obin B untonFli nders University,A ustralia & University of Teesside, UK

A B S T R A C T Many public health interventions attempt to promote health

and well-being while simultaneously engaging with or negating pleasure-

seeking activities. Yet the examination of pleasure is under-researched,

especially within health and health-related areas. We examine pleasure as

both an innate drive and a socially constructed phenomenon. U sing the

development o f religious ideas in western cultures, we ident ify fo ur forms of

pleasure: carnal pleasure, disciplined pleasure, ascetic pleasure and ecstatic

pleasure. These pleasures dramatically affect the construction of social and

cultural identities. Moreover, they influence approaches to our understand-

ings of health in general and interventions to public health in part icular. The

pursuit of the study of pleasure opens up a number of worthwhile areas for

cross-disciplinary discussion and study.

K E Y W O R D S body; health pr omotion; history; pleasure; public health;r eligion

A D D R E S S John C oveney, The D epartment of P ublic H ealth, Flinders

U niversity, B ox 2100, Adela ide, 5001, Austra lia . [Tel: + 61 (0)8 8204 5862; fax:

+ 61 (0)8 8204 5693; e-ma il: john.co veney@fl inders.edu.a u]

In his popular book The pursuit of pleasure , Lionel Tiger (1992) asks whywe are so apprehensive about pleasures, especia lly those of the body. What,

he asks, is the attraction of saying ‘no’ and the fear of ‘yes’ to pleasure?

While not endorsing Tiger’s evolutionary deterministic approach in

addressing this question, we would side with his curiosity. Working as

researchers involved in socia l aspects of public health, nutrition, and of drug

use, we are struck by the fact that pleasure is under-examined in public

health research and practice. G iven tha t pleasure is addressed in many

public health policy issues and programmes, this is a curious absence.

Though a great deal of public health research and practice deals tangen-tia lly with issues of pleasure, there have been few a ttempts to focus directly

on the topic. Pleasure appears almost to o f rivolous a t opic to discuss in the

161

health: A n I nterdiscipl inary Journal

for the Soci al Study of H ealt h,

I l l ness and M edici ne

Copyright © 2003 SAG E Publications(London, Thousand Oa ks and New D elhi)

[1363–4593 (200304) 7:2]Vol 7(2): 161–179; 031873


http://www.sagepublications.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/


3/20

face of the ea rnest struggle a gainst pandemics such as globa l human suffer-

ing, and yet many attempts to address these rely on implicit assumptions

about the nature of pleasure and human activity. A reluctance to address

pleasure may be a nother ma nifesta tion o f medical science’s preference for

studying the causes of illness rather than health. It may also reflect more

deep-seated diffi culties with mod ern western ideas about pleasure and w hatis considered ‘serious’ scientific pursuit. In this article we attempt to high-

light some areas for exploration and further research in the examination

of pleasure in relat ion to health in general and public health in part icular.

We identify a number of issues that might be a fruitful way of opening

discussions about pleasure and health. Some recent discussion has focused

on the related concerns of health, discipline and transgression (Williams,

1998). In a similar vein, we discuss questions about the potential of a focus

on pleasure. Our aim is to roam broadly over a large and, we propose,

largely uncharted terrain. In doing so we appreciate that we run the riskof an inevitable sketchiness in our approach. We think, however, this is a

risk worth taking, especially if it inspires others to contribute to the argu-

ments and discussions we raise.

Pleasure – contributions from the human sciences

When Plato denounced the study of human emotions as inferior to the

study o f rea son (G osling and Tay lor, 1982) he effectively extinguished a n

examina tion o f pleasure as a serious aca demic subject. Thus while classicalliterature is replete with references to the importance of ‘good ’ or of ‘happi-

ness’, there is little covera ge of pleasure, especia lly as a bodily experience.

Foucault (1990a) reminds us of this when he discusses Oribasius (500AD )

whose seven-volume work documenting mind a nd body maintenance in the

classical era contains only two paragraphs on matters sexual.

It is true that during the Enlightenment writers like Locke, Mill and

B entham a ddressed pleasure as a motive of human happiness and common

good. But the notion of pleasure in the hands of these philosophers is

heavily sanitized into various forms of virtue (Porter a nd Mulvey Roberts,

1996).

Yet physical pleasure is not completely absent from philosophical

considerations. Pleasure lurks in the background of western thought like a

ghostly shadow; neither fully present nor fully a bsent. Take Nietzsche’s The bir th of tragedy (Nietzsche, 1966 [1888]), for example, in which he drawson G reek mythology to explicate the tensions that exist in the human

experience. Here we have the god D ionysus, representing the intoxicat ing,

orgiastic and chaotic (but also fertile) elements of the human condition,

pitched against Apollo, who stands for light, beauty and harmony (Pffefer,

1972). The union between the two deities is Nietzsche’s way of summariz-ing the relationship between our pleasure-seeking and ascetic tendencies

(Ma y, 1999). B ut Nietzsche never quite manages to express it in these terms,

health: 7(2)

162


http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/http://hea.sagepub.com/


4/20

preferring instead to consider the nihilistic consequences of the forces of

destruction and creativity for human cultures. Nietzsche’s position may of

course reflect the 19th-century morals that he no doubt tried to rebel

against. But this position in relation to pleasure follows through into the

philosophy of the 20th century. Work like tha t of B ata ille, for example,

purports to explicate the human spirit in terms of pleasure-seeking activi-ties, especia lly eroticism. E ven here, however, B ata ille excuses himself from

dealing directly with the resulting pleasures of erotic activities. His main

aim, he says, is to explore the relationship between eroticism, philosophy,

religion a nd dea th (B ata ille, 1987).

Recent attempts to subvert traditional western philosophical traditions,

especially by feminists writers (e.g. G rosz, 1994), have privileged an exa min-

ation of the body and experiences such as pleasure and other emotions.

This effort directly challenges the primacy given to the investigation of

thought and reason, the heartland of mainstream philosophy. So presum-ab ly in philosophy a t least, we ca n hope to see more work directly related

to pleasure.

In the social sciences, pleasure often makes an appearance in research

on food a nd ea ting, sexuality and pornogra phy (Murcott , 1983; D workin,

1990; Mintz, 1997; Warde a nd Martens, 1999). B ut a ga in, it is only fleeting.

In specific fields of psychology we do see pleasure, as hedonistic scales,

standing as a topic of in-depth examination. E ven here, though, the study

of pleasure has become peripheral because of the perceived problems of

objective quantification of emotional, and therefore unstable, measure-ments (Mellers, 1995).

In relation to health, theoretical and empirical studies of pleasure are

very limited. This is strange, given that pleasure might be considered a

motive for human action (or indeed inaction) and is integral to under-

standing how humans interact with each other and their environment in

wa ys that promote hea lth or create disease. Moreover, so ma ny injunctions

to healthy behaviours seem to be concerned with restricting or overcoming

our seemingly ‘natural’ inclination towards certa in pleasures. A ccording to

Freud (1957), neuroses develop when libidinal instinct, or the ‘pleasureprinciple’, is not resolved satisfactorily into the ‘reality principle’ through

sublimation as the ego matures. That is, where sexual energies are chan-

nelled into so-called ‘productive’ energies: religion, art, education, science

and the like. Marcuse (1970), who reads Freud as an apologist for the

repressive (and therefore unhealthy) capitalist organization of labour,

arrives at his own solution to the maturation of the ego – non-repressive

sublimation, or narcissism. However, Marcuse’s privileging of individual

libidinal pleasures comes in for trenchant criticism when it is seen to be

incompatible with mutuality and wider social goods (Alford, 1987).

Pleasure, it appears, creates problems.

Coveney & Bunton: I n Pursuit of the Study of Pleasure

163




5/20

Differentiating pleasure

It is useful at this stage to examine the tensions between an essentialist

notion of pleasure which postulates a universal and non-discursive

ontology, and notions that pleasure is a product of culturally and histori-

cally specific discourses (Alasuutari, 1992). These tensions have been takenup in recent literature on the sociology of the emotions (James and G abe,

1996; B endelow and Williams, 1998; Williams, 2000). D eborah Lupton

provides a useful summary o f the a rea (L upton, 1998) pointing out tha t

fields such as psychology and neurophysiology have developed biological

foundations for emotions, including pleasure. Central neurological

pathways are credited with the passage of pleasure-receiving signals, and

specific parts of the brain have been identified as centres where pleasure

is registered (B oza rth, 1994). Viewed this way, pleasure is an inherent –

some may say primitive – human phenomenon. An a lternative approach is

to see emotions, and with them pleasure, as a socio-cultural construction.

Lupton separa tes this approach into two schools of thought. The less rela-

tivistic (‘weak’) thesis recognizes that the physical sensations created by

emotions may indeed be biologically inherited, but they are context-depen-

dent and therefore socially conditioned. The ‘strong’ construction support-

ers differ in tha t they view emotions as experiences tha t cannot be separa ted

from the words and concepts that are already in circulation to define and

describe them. Thus, even to describe something like pleasure (physical

and emotional) in the ways that we do is to draw upon specific discourses

of desire that are themselves culturally and historically situated.There is certa inly evidence to support cultura l differences in the experi-

ence of pleasure. Lu and Shih (1997), for example, have shown that the

concept and the experience of pleasure in Chinese culture differs from tha t

in the West. Rozin et al. (1999) demonstrated that pleasure of food and

enjoyment of eating differ widely across cultural groups. Similarly, the

expression a nd a ppreciat ion of food pleasure at mea ltimes has been shown

to va ry greatly betw een families in the U SA and families in Ita ly (Ochs et

al., 1996). And eroticism, as expressed in the tradition of the Huli culture

of the highlands of P apua New G uinea (C larke, 1997), would probably beunrecognizable in western cultures. So pleasure it seems is differentiated

across contemporary space.

It is also apparent that experience of pleasure has been altered across

time. The ways that we seek and express pleasure today is different from

earlier periods in western history. Foucault’s work on the history of sexu-

ality concerns the ways that the management and enjoyment of pleasure

differed from G reek antiq uity to early C hristianity (Foucault, 1993). E lias’

work shows how power and control over urges and desires, through the

gradual internalization of outer institutional constraints, transformedetiq uette, a ppetites and, importantly, pleasures through so-called ‘civilizing

processes’ in western history (E lias, 1982). O ther work has traced the

health: 7(2)

164




6/20

meanings of the pleasures of eating in the West, examining the ways in

which gustatory enjoyment has been manifested and managed at different

historical moments (Coveney, 2000).

The differences in the understa nding of emotion a nd pleasure – as either

essential or socially constructed – arise as a result of differing epistemo-

logical positions and reflect the current debates around the ‘body’ in thehuman sciences. For our current purposes we are not endorsing one or the

other: all approaches are of interest as they apply to health.

We are also interested in the w ays that pleasures are d efined differently

in different contexts. O’Ma lley and Mugford (1991), for example, point out

that not all pleasure-seeking pursuits, e.g. the taking of drugs, are seen as

desirable or even pleasurable by all people in all cultures and all times.

Pleasures are highly contextual – socially, economically and materially.

Turner (1982) demonstra tes tha t the pleasures of the ta ble af ford ed to elite

classes in 18th-century England were a product of the widening choice ofava ilab le foods. The explosion o f tra de and commerce at tha t time brought

a variety of new culinary ingredients – foods, spices, liquors – to whet the

appetites of the wealthy. In contemporary western society, however, such

food choices are, w ith a few exceptions, ava ilab le to most people. Pleasure

now does not result merely from the enjoyment of gastronomic riches but

a lso, paradoxica lly, from a refusal of them (B ordo, 1993). The ascetic

appreciation that comes from attaining a slim, toned body and regulated

lifestyle – in the midst of plenty and pressures to consume – demonstrates

that pleasures are situated within specific social discourses and practices(Turner, 1995).

Forms of pleasure are not only socially situated; they also demonstrate

social locat ion. B ourdieu (1989) has pointed out how holiday leisure activi-

ties vary across classes, acting to distinguish one’s status by discernment

and taste. The ‘loftier’ pleasures of alpine walking, for example, are

preferred by middle class groups over a package fortnight’s holiday on

Spain’s C osta D el Sol.

Within western cultures, we know then that pleasure comes in various

forms and patterns. E ven the experiences of pleasure are q uantita tively andqualitatively different. The pleasures of shopping (Miller, 1997) for

example, differ vastly from the pleasures of smoking (Klein, 1993), the

pleasures of unclad bathing (Sul, 1999), the pleasures of sex (Lowe, 1997),

the pleasures of good fo od and good company (Warde and Martens, 2000).

Yet the pluralities and complexities of pleasure, as something experienced ,are hard ly ever considered. L upton comes close to differentiat ing pleasure

when she discusses the ways that ascetic approaches to eating carry their

own pleasures through a sense of self-control and self-discipline (Lupton,

1996), or when she describes the thrills or pleasures associated with risk

taking (Lupton, 1999). Clearly, pleasure comes in many guises.


165




7/20

Pleasure and public health

B y privileging health a nd well-being, public health a ims to develop forms

of the goo d life for the populat ion as a whole. The broa d and positive defi-

nitions of hea lth used in more recent public health policy sta tements appear

to work with an implicit notion of an equitable distribution of life’spleasures, as well as production capacity (Aggleton, 1995). However,

pleasure and pleasure-seeking activities are often considered to be at the

root of irrational, o ften spontaneous actions which predisposes individuals

to unhealthy, so-called risk-taking behaviours. Sexual gratification and

pleasure-seeking activities in gay men, for example, have been linked with

unprotected and therefore unsafe sex (Schoennesson a nd D olezal, 1998).

Smoking, excessive drinking and eating unhealthy foods are all sources of

pleasure, which a re considered to damage hea lth. P leasure is considered a s

a prime force creating the ‘root of resistance’ whereby individuals flout thenorms which public health at tempts to impose. Lupton (1995) discusses the

wa ys that pleasure and d esire, as libidinal forces, may be regarded a s pre-

or non-discursive; they are innately undisciplined and undisciplinable.

Pleasure and pleasure seeking is thus conceived as the weak link in the

chain of command from authoritarian discourses of health governance to

docile compliance for body maintenance.

Efforts of reform in contemporary public health always run the risk of

standing a ccused of ‘nannyism’, through negating individuals’ pleasure and

spoiling spontaneity and fun. There is a growing body of literature – part,some say, a t rend to wa rds the ‘pleasure revenge’ (B ell and Valentine, 1997)

– which accuses the puritanical ‘healthist’ culture in the West of denying

pleasure and promoting guilt, and therefore stress, in individuals (Klein,

1993, 1996; Warburton, 1994; Warburton and Sherwood, 1996; Lindeman

and Stark, 1999; Rozin et al., 1999).

Pleasure can also be seen as an organizing principle in democratic

societies providing a critical vantage point on public health and health

promotion (Luik, 1996; Netter, 1996). Pleasure thus can act as a rallying

point or ‘clarion call’ to oppose the forces of unwanted ‘authoritarian’control of individual choice, and the unwelcome incursion of expert reason

into the life-world. Critics wish to defend the liberal subject’s right to

‘freedom’ and ‘autonomy’, thereby protecting the threatened liberal

subject’s right to self-determination a gainst the threat of experts who would

‘interfere’ in their autonomous (sometimes pleasure-seeking) decisions

(AR ISE , http://www.a rise.org/).

Although from a differing perspective, and with perhaps a differing

politics, this objection is ra ther similar to the critical att ention tha t has been

levelled at health promotion and public health which has highlighted the

surveillance potential of newer forms of health care (Armstrong, 1983;Nett leton a nd B unton, 1995; Petersen and L upton, 1997; Crawford , 2000a).

New sets of rights and responsibilities of citizens, state instrumentalities

health: 7(2)

166




8/20

and health-care professionals are being constructed as western health-care

systems privilege public health and self-care. Newer more self-reliant,

‘empow ered’ citizens are being estab lished who take on more responsibility

for their own health risks. Indeed, risk management is changing in ways

that increasingly involve the personalized policing of pleasure and risk.

Pleasure conceived as the other side of risk cannot escape increasedattention from scientific expertise and new forms of health governance.

Personal pleasure and self-satisfaction, it can be argued, are now derived

from a range of practices appropriate to self-transformation through self-

policing.

The self-policing, or self-management, of health involves the fashioning

and rat ioning of pleasure in ways that are highly socially situated. L ike risk

taking, and often experienced as risk’s other side, pleasure is socially

distributed. R isks exposure and risk-ta king beha viours have a recogniza ble

social gradient, with lower socio-economic groups being exposed to andta king the brunt of available risk (B eck, 1992; Furlong a nd C artmel, 1997).

Castel (1991) has pointed to the redistribution of risk management in late

modern societies and argues that, increasingly, those considered economi-

cally active are allowed the freedoms to self-manage risks, while those

socially excluded a nd/or w ithout the economic power to do so, have their

risks, often austerely, managed for them by state agencies. Similarly,

pleasures are mana ged differentially by social ca tegory, often w ith scarcely

concealed hypocrisy. The pleasures of opium, laudanum and hashish were

much appreciated by a number of romant ic artists and writers in late 19th-century Europe, including for example, D e Q uincey, C oleridge and Poe

(Plant, 1999). Later, when these drugs began to be used by the newly

urbanized working classes, calls for disciplining the habits and prohibition

ensued, often with the stated purpose of protecting public health and

welfare, resulting in unprecedented restrictive legislation in the early 20th

century.

The origins of many modern public health initiatives have roots in evan-

gelical, often highly disciplined and religious movements in the 18th and

19th centuries designed to reform unwholesome habits, disruptive behav-iours and, in the process, transform pleasures. Within this discourse,

pleasure was regarded as emotional (therefore irrational) and in direct

opposition to reason a nd ra tionality. B y reifying the ‘joys’ of asceticism,

ab stinence and sobriety o ver decadence, depravity a nd debauchery, public

health sought to replace one form of pleasure (hedonistic, carnal, libidinal)

with others (aesthet ic, ascetic, civilized). We can therefo re see public health

as a series of a ttempts to t ransform pleasure by constructing new ‘modern’

secular moral and ra tiona l positions. P ublic hea lth discourses intersect with

pervasive religious beliefs, which still have a n inhibiting effect on risk taking

(Abb ott -Chapma n a nd D enholm, 2001). O f course, public health did notinvent these transformations but was a part of an emerging western

episteme influenced by the economico-political regulation of populations


167




9/20

which changed the understanding of the body and the soul in the modern

period (Foucault, 1980).

A history of pleasure

In seeking to map the transformations in pleasure and pleasure-seekingexperiences, we w ill now look a t the emergence and circulation o f d ifferent

forms of pleasure in western culture. In doing this, we are not suggesting

that one form of pleasure existed without others. It is to suggest instead

that different systems of thought, different forms of expressivity and,

importantly, different religious influences at different historical periods

prioritized one form of pleasure over others. In contempora ry public health

discourse, as we sha ll see, these different fo rms of pleasure present multiple

opportunities for engagement a nd regulation.

The point of departure for our analysis is the research undertaken byMellor a nd Shilling (1997) on the w ays tha t religious influences in the West

have shaped or reformed the body. This work, rightly, reminds us that the

holy trinity of sensuality, embodiment and the sacred have vastly shaped

the relationship between religion and sociality.

Carnal pl easure

We begin with fl eshy desire. To t a lk of carna l pleasures is to ta lk about

bodily basics: warm flesh, moist orifices and libidinal urges. Carnal

pleasures emerge from the ra w, physical body. For the a ncient G reeks, the‘natural’ appetite, or energia , formed one of the most important drives forcarnal pleasure. Carnal pleasures are sensuous, and come from the senses.

They a re therefore o ften unant icipated, a rising out of nowhere but calling

for at tention a nd gra tification. To be sure, carna l feelings and instincts can

be evoked: the smell of good food, the ero tic image, the stroking of sensi-

tive body parts. All these produce sensations tha t conjure fleshy desire from

which carna l pleasures emerge. B ut it is the unexpected a rousal that make

carna l aw akenings so startling and therefore problemat ic. The early C hris-

tian J ohn C assian (360–435AD ) believed tha t it w as the innateness of the

natural appetite that made it so hard to tame a nd cure. For C assian, food

and sex were inextricably linked and an overindulgence in eating and

drinking lead to the urge to fornicate (Foucault, 1990b).

Carna l, physical pleasures connect the body to the w orld. They literally

‘open up’ the body to the influence of other people and the w ider environ-

ment. The notion of a body open to senses indicates a sharing of values,

rituals and community. Thus Falk’s discussion of an ‘eating community’ in

relation to an inclusive society indicates not merely a sharing of food but

the construction a collective boundary (Falk, 1994). It wa s within the medi-

aeval period of Europe, where communities were open to all manner ofenvironmenta l (plague, pestilence, famine) and huma n (war) cata strophes,

that Catholicism found its niche (Mellor and Schilling, 1997). Carnal

health: 7(2)

168




10/20

pleasures formed the basis of many prohibitions. Rituals of the flesh and

physicality, invoking and inflaming the senses, were important practices in

Catholic worship and penitence. Self-flagellation, penetration of bodies

with pins and irritating the body with harsh clothing were all rituals

designed to curb carnal pleasure by disciplining the physical self. The

importa nt point here is that bod ily senses and the physical bo dy itself w ereboth instruments and targets of Catholic practices. Even the Eucharist –

literally the embodiment of Christ through ritualistically eating of bread

and drinking of w ine – echoes this physica lity. The synergism between open,

often volatile, bodies, sensuousness and superstition provided a fertile

environment for the growth of Catholicism in the mediaeval period of

E urope. D espite its apparent strict doctrine and dogma, the C hurch at t hat

time absorbed pre-existing pagan rituals and practices, which allowed it to

penetrate and make its mark on social values. The carnival is a good

example of this. Culminating in the mardi gras , the carnival involvedritualistic, often grotesque practices, including overindulgence in food and

sex to the point of orgy. In one part of France, the patron saint of Shrove

Tuesday was Sa int D egobillard, otherwise known a s St Vomit (Mellor a nd

Schilling, 1997). B ut the carnival was succeeded by L ent, one of the most

importa nt a nd most pious occasions in the C hristian ca lenda r. Lent reminds

C hristians of the need to deprive the physical bod y – and w ith that the soul

– of food and pleasure as an enactment of Christ’s suffering. The breaking

of Lent coincides with the feast of Easter, and the celebrations of fertility

and rebirth. Fertility festivals were o f course in place long before the a rrivalof Christianity, and aga in we see a superimposing of religious doctrine on

pagan activities, demonstra ting the tolerance to carna lity that existed in the

early Christian Catholic church.

Today, the instinctua l urges tha t a rise from bodily pleasures are, as we

saw earlier, believed to lead to ma ny risky and health-damaging behaviours

(unsafe sex, over-eating and drug ta king). This volatile body, which refuses

to be disciplined, is highly disordered, dangerous and polluting. Like many

forms of pollution it represents ‘ma tter out of place’ (D ouglas, 1966). Such

pollution presents a threat to the public’s health and requires sanitarymeasures (Armstrong, 1983; Crawford, 2000b).

D i sci pl i ned pleasure

Throughout the late mediaeval period, the power of the Catholic church

wa s gradually challenged from within its own ra nks and from outside. The

emergence of movements we now regard as Protestant brought an under-standing of pleasure that had not been fully celebrated outside all but the

most cloistered communities. Much of the early movements of Protes-

ta ntism claimed they w ere the vera reli gion , the t rue religion. The proof o f

this wa s in the strict interpretation of the word of G od. A ccusingCatholicism of practising superstition and worshipping idols, especially

through Mariology (the praising of the virgin Mary), Protestants stripped


169




11/20

bare the rituals, the revelations and the rites that formed the core of

C atholicism. G od was now a vailable to all, not through the ciphers of the

Church – the priests and the popes – but directly through the reading of

His words. The text became the symbol of G od a nd reading or listening tothe Scriptures with a calm at titude turned into one’s self, replaced the open,

public and communal ritual that characterized the Catholic mass. As thedisplay of emotions and physicality became subordinated to more cogni-

tive practices for worship, narra tives of the self a nd the reifi cation o f ‘inner-

liness’ flourished a nd beca me sacred. These practices were not new. Indeed,

Foucault points out tha t early Christian writing encouraged the practice of

constantly turning over one’s thoughts and feelings to seek out evil, much

as the miller turns over his wheat grains to pick out those which are bad

(Foucault, 1988). The Reformation took these early writings seriously and

turned them into religious practices. Pleasure now does not merely involve

the immediate gratification of carnal urges. Pleasure now assumes a moresublime quality. Indeed, the stepping back and deferring from immediate

instinctual grat ificat ion in order fully to a ppreciat e the wo rld and its offer-

ings gives rise to a range of aesthetic, so-called ‘cultivated and civilised’

practices (Elias, 1982). Kant’s ‘Critique of judgement’ stands as the sine qua non of the discourses on reflective beauty (Falk, 1994). The supplant-ing of words for deeds provides a number of opportunities for disciplined

or deferred pleasure. The categorizat ion of w hat and how things can please

– through the creation of archives, manua ls and cata logues – allowed for a

vicarious experience of pleasurable acts. The experience of the actualpleasure itself was no longer a requirement now that the very form and

nature of pleasure was captured in words.

O ther written forms a llowed for the production o f disciplined pleasure.

For example, cooking sta ndards could now be judged by the written word,

as recipe books and cooking manuals become the standards for quality.

Prior to this, recipes were passed by word of mouth leaving many oppor-

tunities for misinterpretat ion, poor tra nslat ion and poor results. Stat ic anddisciplined in words, the recipe stands for all time. And the practice of

cooking,by the book

, takes on a status all of its own. The fact that only the

most privileged in society could actually read and write served further to

elevate the written word as a form of cultivated expression.

D isciplined pleasure is pleasure tha t ha s been rat iona lized. Within the

ra tiona l knowledge of 19th-century food science and nutrition, for example,

pleasure was subordina ted below ra tions, reason a nd science. Too much

flavour from food was considered to overtax the digestive system and

damage health. What was needed was just enough flavour to accomplish

nature’s economy (Richards and Elliott, 1910).

D iscipline in drink wa s also pa rt o f this pleasure. Victorian and E d-

wardian concerns about the drinking of the newly urbanized workingclasses illustra tes the coincidence of interests between the public health a nd

the Church (H arrison, 1971; A lasuutari, 1992) The ‘ tempera nce’ mo vement

health: 7(2)

170




12/20

of the turn of the 20th century was an ambitious socio-political programme

or ‘mo ral crusade’ (G usfield, 1963). Measures to contro l and discipline

alcohol a nd drug consumption stem from this period, w hen the concept of

‘addiction’ re-emerged and eclipsed other ways of problematizing intoxi-

cation, such as that encapsulated in the concept of ‘habituation’ (Levine,

1978). A drinking hab it tha t w as a menable to human intention a nd choice,wa s transformed in addiction discourse into a ‘disease of the w ill’ that wa s

in need of ‘correction’ by medical a uthorities. Addiction discourse afforded

little, if any, space for the pleasures of intoxication. Rather, there was a

‘systematic silencing’ by discourses that pathologize the practice of alcohol

and drug use (O’Malley and Mugford, 1991).

Rationalized and disciplined pleasure stands against vulgar and

emotiona l displays of enjoyment. The fi rst being reasoned, rea sonable and

safe, the second being unpredictab le, perverse and risky. D isciplined

pleasure is arguably at the foundation of many public health initiatives.Moderation, restraint and tempered practices are integrated into the very

fabric of public health discourse. Immediate gratifi cation is relinquished for

the pleasure and sat isfaction of rat ionalizat ion and rea son. This subtext is

inherent in attempts to improve public health: from smoking cessation,

improvements in diet, to mo dera tion in drinking. ‘You know it makes sense’

has been a well-used motto in public health to call up in consumers the

reasoned and rational understanding of what is best for them, and for the

community. B ut as we shall see shortly, the a bility to ta ke this ‘sense’ to an

extreme is ever-present in public health.

A sceti c pl easures

In contrast to the immediacy of carnal pleasure and the rationality and

intellectualizing of disciplined pleasure, ascetic pleasure requires the

practice of askesis or self-training. Foucault reminds us that for the ancientG reeks, the careful mana ging of pleasure actually enhanced one’s experi-ence of pleasure (McHo ul and G race, 1995). Virtue wa s regarded a s the

ha llmark of one’s excellence as a G reek citizen (Kippo, 1975) especially

through the moderation of pleasure. As early Christians incorporated

elements of classical G reek thought into their doctrine, however, virtue

became synonymous with a scetics – the denial o f a ll pleasure (B rown,

1988). The R ules of St B enedict, written around 500AD stipulate the import-

ance of ‘loving to fast’ and ‘not being too fond of pleasure’ (St Benedict,

1966). Pleasure from a scetics and a bstinence reached its apogee in the prac-tices of a number of monks and early C hristians. Ca therine of Sienna, C laire

of Assisi and A ngela of Foligno, for example, all reached heights of ecstasy

through severe fa sting and other a scetic ritua ls (B ynum-Walker, 1987). The

ascetic approach to pleasure was not confined to the Middle Ages.

Throughout the growth of Protestantism, ascetic practices of many kindswere encouraged often with the aim of purifying the body. The arousal of

pleasure qua passion, wa s considered to contaminate the soul and was thus


171




13/20

a source of sin. All manner o f foods which might be considered a s arousing

passions in the body – ‘earthy’ foods producing flatulence, or highly

seasoned foods – were considered polluting and were therefore eschewed

(Tryon, 1695).

The basis of ascetic pleasure arises from the acknowledgement of total

control of the body’s natural urges. This is not so much a civilizing of thebody, as we saw with disciplined pleasure, but more a total conquering anddomination of the body. As Lupton explains (Lupton, 1996), modern-dayexamples of ascetic pleasure can be found in the testimonies of people who

have self-starved with conditions like anorexia nervosa. Interestingly, while

extreme forms of ascetic pleasure can be seductive, creating feelings of tota l

control and safety, in public health terms there are of course great risks to

personal health and well-being. In trying to supplant carnal pleasures with

disciplined pleasures, public health always runs the risk of paralleling

religious zeal which reifies ascetic pleasures. Obsessions with one’s food,drink and bodily function can easily arise from pursuing so-called healthy

lifestyles (Turner, 1995). Thus, the punishment of the physical body, in the

name of health, is always a possibility. Ascetic pleasure is almost always a

solitary pursuit and stands in stark contrast to forms of pleasure arising

from collective ecsta tic experiences. These a re d iscussed below.

Ecstati c pl easures

Pleasure as a ritualistic, spiritually bonding experience, often with the

assista nce of mind/mood-altering substa nces and rhythmic dance, has atradition in many cultures. The suspicions with which such traditions have

been viewed are well evident in the Christian missionary attempts to

dampen and extinguish so-called ‘dangerous’ tribal practices in distant and

exotic locations. However, we can examine this phenomenon closer to

home in public health at tempts to dea l with the variety of pleasures emana t-

ing from youth ‘club-culture’.

The unruliness of bodies under the influence of psycho-act ive substa nces

has long since concerned public health specialists (G usfield, 1963; B erridge,

1989), but rema ins an a biding focus (Valverde, 1999; B unto n, 2001). More

recent literature, however, has begun to examine issues related to the

aesthetic body. There has been some discussion o f a so-called ‘post-modern’

pattern of drug use and drug use identity that involves a normalization of

illicit drug use (Parker and Measham, 1994; Shiner and Newburn, 1997,

1999; South, 1999).

The upturn in the use of illicit drugs among the young in the 1990s and

development of ‘pick and mix’ use patterns of drug use would appear to

mimic more general shifts in the consumption of goods and services under

the influence of consumer society. ‘Intoxicating commodities’ (O’Malley

and Mugford, 1991) can be placed within a response to the increasedrationalization and regulation of the life-world. Indeed, popular music,

dance drugs and club-culture – ‘rave’ or ‘Ecstasy culture’ – as a mass

health: 7(2)

172




14/20

cultural phenomenon in the 1980s and 1990s (Thornton, 1995; Shapiro,

1999) is arguably an example of a social form responding to the over-

rat ionalization and bureaucratiza tion of everyda y life. Interestingly, groups

formed in such mass consumption appear to be self-consciously creating

their own philosophy. Offering libera tion, pleasure and communa lity – even

of fering alterna tive spiritual realms – these forms of social life and embodi-ment are the result of what Miles (1992) has called ‘carnal knowing’. This

use of drugs appears, almost nostalgically, to seek a period when society

produced an altogether more intense, sensual existence; before the civiliz-

ing processes, tha t E lias documents so well, transformed E uropean society.

Public health seems to have overlooked the obvious point tha t people take

drugs for the experience of pleasure, how ever socially defi ned. D rug use

has many affinities (as well as ‘risk factors’) with sexual pleasure (Eisler,

1995; H art and C arter, 2000).

An example of philosophies tha t celebrate pleasure can be found a mongsome groups of participants in the Sydney G ay Lesbian Ma rdi G ras

Festival. In the early 1990s a wave of resistance reacted against attempts

by Festival organizers to make ‘Australia’s premier summer community

festival’ d rug free (Southga te a nd H opwood, 1999). Indeed drug use during

the Festival wa s seen by many to be integral to the celebrat ions of gay pride,

and an ant i-drug sta nce by organisers was considered to be a sellout on the

philosophy o f the event . This resistance to a uthority is an excellent demon-

stration of the ways in which pleasure seeking itself can be reasoned and

rat ionalized w ithin a nd by counter d iscourses.The directly spiritual experience of use of the drug Ecstasy is interest-

ing, given the claims made by Maffessoli (1996) and Mellor and Shilling

(1997) concerning the ‘re-consecration’ of existence through sensual soli-

darities. Modern tribalistic and ritualistic experiences offer relief from the

alienation of banal association. They present a return to the sacred in

everyday existence by a combination o f a range o f technologies including:

lighting, sound, space, drug use and crowds.

The ecstatic pleasures derived from collective spirituality are of course

evident in many religious movements. In Christianity, communion is acollective practice that not only connects individua l worshippers with Christ

but also with one another. In more fundamentalist Christian sects the

combination o f gospel music, song and prayer can give rise to sponta neous

ecstat ic and rapturous responses from congregations. Speaking ‘in tongues’

has a similar ef fect. The connectedness tha t derives from collective ecsta tic

experiences, whether they be w ithin the secular youth culture, the G ay

community or religious church gatherings, bonds individuals both spiritu-

ally a nd pleasurably.


173




15/20

Conclusions

O ur aim in this article has been to begin to reflect upon pleasure in relat ion

to public health and health more generally. Pleasure is so integral to the

challenges of public health, it is surprising tha t there is not more empirica l

or theoretical literature on the topic. In its attempt to transform pleasures,public health always runs the risk of introducing new and unanticipated

elements that ma y run counter to the goals of health enhancement. In part,

this is because it has not been able to theorize the place of pleasure in

hea lth a nd w ell-being. The rise in ascetic practices, for example, especially

related to strict dieting and associated distortions of body image, is arguably

linked to a focus on the need to restra in eating for the sake o f health. Simi-

larly, embodied pleasures can develop in relation to public health behav-

ioural interdictions. U nhealthy, ‘da ngerous’ practices or consumption can

exploit these interdictions to enhance the aesthetic pleasures – carnal,

ecstatic or other.

By examining the ways that pleasures are represented and experienced

we can also examine some of the ways that power and social relations are

reproduced – the uses of pleasure as Foucault reminded us. The coercive

and governing power of risk discourse and risk management in the name

of health has been analysed and critiqued by those concerned with a

number of perspectives and political positions. The problematization of

pleasure itself and its relationship to health and public health in particular

is also in need o f closer examinat ion. While the discourses and experience

of pleasure are normally associated with freedom from interdiction, theyare replete with social regulation or control. Maffessoli observes that

certain consumption phenomena, such as ‘Club Med’, may be extensions

of q uite regulat ed consumption socia lities (Ma ffessoli, 1996). The consump-

tion of ‘risk products’ can in fact merely reproduce other forms of social

identity along traditional class and gender lines, like other forms of

consumption (B ourdieu, 1985; Sulkunen, 1992; B unton and B urrows, 1995).

Similarly, sexual health education that sought to ‘eroticize’ sexual activity

was not free from social or ideological influence (Wilton, 1996).

We would argue that the religious elements that influence the dimen-sions of cultures cannot be underestimated when considering the shaping

of attitudes to, and practices of, pleasure. The work of Mellor and Shilling

among others, is evidence of this. Our understanding of pleasure is

deepened and broadened through historical analysis of the influence of

religion on conceptions of the body and the soul.

In this article we have attempted to sketch some possible approaches

tha t such an ana lysis might ta ke, rather tha n systemat ically review the range

of work currently being undertaken across a variety of disciplines. In

addressing pleasure more centrally in public and health research, andattempting to open the topic for further discussion, we are aware of the

potential brea dth of such a focus. I t w ould certainly cross many disciplines

health: 7(2)

174




16/20

and doma ins of study, like many o ther aspects of the study of the body. In

this brief sketch of some possible directions we have ignored important

contributions to the area which would repay closer examination, for

example: psychoanalytic aspects of pleasure, self and subjectivity; anti-

pleasure as a momentum of hea lth promotion and public health; the work

of D eluze and G utta ri on desire and the implications for public health; theunderstanding of late-modern patterns of drug use; sex, pleasure and

subjectivity; food, pleasure and the problems posed for health promotion

intervention; public health risks and the pleasures of tra nsgression; a nd the

public health imperative of a disembodied experience of pleasure.

In pursuing the study of pleasure in relation to health, even document-

ing the absence of a pleasure focus may be of immediate interest. If w e are

to avoid opposing pleasure and reason, what complementary experiences

to pleasure would we suggest? Theorizing pleasure has a potentially rich

source of da ta in the field of health, and one which should be seriously (andpleasurably) considered.

References Abbo tt-Cha pman, J . and D enholm, C . (2001). Ad olescents’ risk activities, risk

hierarchies and the infl uence of religiosity. Journal of Youth Studies , 4 , 161–77.Aggleto n, P . (1995). H ealth . London: Ro utledge.Alasuuta ri, P. (1992). D esir e and craving: A cultural theory of alcoholism . New

York: State U niversity of New York Press.

Alford, C . (1987). E ros and civilisation a fter thirty yea rs: A reconsideration in light

of recent theo ries of na rcissism. Theory and Society , 16(6) , 869–980.Armstrong, D . (1983). Political ana tomy o f the body: Medical knowledge in Britain

in the twentieth century. New York: Camb ridge U niversity P ress.

B at aille, G . (1987). Eroticism . London: Marion Boya rs.B eck, U . (1992). Risk society: Towards a new moderni ty . London: Sage.B ell, D. a nd Valentine, G . (1997). Consuming geographies: We are where we eat .

London: R outledge.

B endelow, G . and Williams, S. (1998 ) Emotions in social li fe: Cr iti cal themes and contemporary issues . London: Ro utledge.

B erridge, V. (1989). H istorical issues. In S. Ma cG regor (E d.), D rugs and B ri tish

society: Responses to a social problem in the 1980s . London: R outledge.B ord o, S. (1993). Unbearabl e weight: Femin ism, western cultur e, and the body .

B erkeley, CA : U niversity of C alifornia P ress.

B ourd ieu, P. (1985). Reproduction . London: Ro utledge.B ourd ieu, P. (1989). D istinction: A social cri tique of the judgement of taste . London:

Routledge.

B oza rth, M. (1994). Pleasure pathw ays in the brain. In D . Warburton (E d.),

Pleasure: The pol iti cs and the reali ty . New Yo rk: Jo hn Wiley & Sons.B row n, P. (1988). The body and society: M en, women and sexual r enunciation in

early Chr istianity . New York: C olumbia U niversity P ress.

B unton, R . (2001). Kno wledge a nd embodiment in neo-libera l and drug policy.Journal of Contempor ary D rugs Problems , 28 , 221–44.

B unton, R . and B urrows, R. (1995). Consumption and health. In R . B unton, S.


175




17/20

Nettleton and R . B urrows (Ed s.), The sociology of health promotion: Consumption, li festyle and ri sk . London: Ro utledge.

B ynum-Walker, C . (1987). H oly feast and hol y fast . B erkeley, CA : U niversity ofC alifornia P ress.

C astel, R . (1991). From da ngerousness to risk. In G . B urchell, C. G ordon a nd P.

Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmentali ty . London:H arvester/Whea tshea f.

C larke, J. (1997). Sta te o f desire: Transformat ions in Huli sexuality. In L .

Ma nderson and M. Jo lly (E ds.), Sites of desir e and economies of pleasure: Sexuali ty in A sia and the Pacific . Chicago, IL : U niversity of C hicago P ress.

C oveney, J . (2000). Food morals and meanings: The pleasure and anxiety of eating .London: R outledge.

C raw ford , R . (2000a). The ritual of health promo tion. In S. Williams, J. G abe and

M. Ca lnan (E ds.), H ealth, medicine and society: Key theories, future agendas .London: R outledge.

C raw ford , R . (2000b). Transgression fo r wha t? A response to Simon Williams.health: A n I nterdi scipli nary Journal for the Social Study of H ealth, I llness and M edicine , 3(4) , 650.

D ougla s, M. (1966). Pur ity and danger . London: Ro utledge.D wo rkin, A. (1990). Pornography: Men possessing women . Lo ndo n: The Women’s

Press.

E isler, R . (1995). Sacred pleasure: Sex, myth, and the pol i tics of the body . New York: Harper Collins.

E lias, N. (1982). The civil izi ng process (vo l. 2): State formation and civil ization .O xford: B lackwell.

Falk, P . (1994). The consuming body . London: Sage.Foucault, M. (1980). The politics of hea lth in the eighteenth century. In C . G ordo n(Ed.), Power/knowledge: Selected in terviews and other wr i tings 1972–1977 . New York: P antheon B ooks.

Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the self. In L . Ma rtin, H . G utma n and P.

Hutton (Eds.), Technol ogies of the self : A seminar with M ichel Foucault .Amherst, MA : U niversity of Ma ssachusetts P ress.

Fouca ult, M. (1990a). Care of the self : H istory o f sexuali ty, vol . 3 . H armondsworth:Penguin.

Foucault, M. (1990b). The ba ttle fo r chastity. In L . Kritzman (E d.), M ichel

Foucault: Poli tics, phi losophy, cultur e in terviews and other wri tings . New York:Routledge.Fouca ult, M. (1993). The use of p leasure: The history o f sexuali ty, vol. 2 .

H armondsworth: Penguin.

Freud, S. (1957). Formulations regarding the two principles in mental functioning.

In Coll ected papers, vol. I V . London: Ho garth Press.Furlong, A. and C artmel, F. (1997). Young people a nd social change –

individua lizat ion and risk in lat e modernity. B uckingham: O pen U niversity

Press.

G osling, J. and Tay lor, C . (1982). The Greeks on pleasure . Oxford: C larendonPress.

G rosz, E . (1994). Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal femin ism . B loomington, IN:Indiana U niversity.

G usfield, J .R . (1963). Symbol ic crusade . U rbana , IL : U niversity of I llinois Press.

health: 7(2)

176




18/20

H arrison, B . (1971). D ri nk and the Victorians: The temperance question in England,1815–1872 . Londo n: Faber.

H art , G . and C art er, S. (2000). A sociology of H IV risk behaviour. In S. Williams,

J. G abe and M. Ca lnan (Eds.), H ealth, medicine and society: K ey theories, futu re agendas . London: Ro utledge.

Ja mes, V. and G abe, J. (1996). H ealth and the sociol ogy of emotions . Ca mbridge,MA : B lackwell P ublishers.

Kippo, A. (1965). The Greeks . Ha rmondsworth: Penguin.Klein, R . (1993). Cigarettes are sublime . D urham & Lo ndon: D uke U niversity

Press.

K lein, R . (1996). Eat fat . D urham & Lo ndon: D uke U niversity P ress.Levine, H .G . (1978). The discovery of addiction: C hanging conceptions of

hab itual drunkenness in America. Journal of Studies on A lcohol , 39 ,143–74.

Lindema n, M. and St ark, K . (1999). Pleasure, pursuit of health or negotiat ion of

identity? A ppetite , 33 , 141–61.Lo we, G . (1994). Plea sure of social relaxants and stimulants – the ordinary

person’s at titudes and involvement. In D . Warburton (E d.), Pleasure: The pol iti cs and the reality . London: J ohn Wiley.

Lo we, G . (1997). What people say about pleasure and enjoyment. P aper given at

The value of pleasure: The question of guilt internationa l workshop. R ome,

http://www.a rise.org/plea s_ques_glt_wksp.html

Lu, L . and Shih, J. (1997). Sources of ha ppiness: A qualita tive approa ch. Journal of Social Psychology , 137 , 181–7.

Luik, J.C . (1996). The assault on pleasure: H ealth promot ion a nd engineering the

human soul. In D . Warburton a nd N. Sherwood (Ed s.), Pleasure and qual ity of life . Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Lupton, D . (1995). The imperative of health: Publi c health and regulated bod ies .

London: Sage.

Lupton, D . (1996). Food, the body and the self . London: Sage.Lupton, D . (1998). The emotional self . London: Sage.Lupton, D . (1999). Risk . London: R outledge.McH oul, A. and G race, W. (1995). The Foucault pr imer: D iscourse, power and the subject . Melbourne: Melbourne U niversity P ress.

Ma ffessoli, M. (1996). The time of the tri bes. The decline of i ndi viduali sm in mass

society . London: Sage.Ma rcuse, H . (1966). Eros and civil isation . London: A llen Lane.Ma y, S. (1999). Nietzsche’s ethics and his war on ‘morali ty’ . Oxford: Oxford

U niversity Press.

Mellers, B . (1995). C hoice and the rela tive pleasure of consequences.

Psychological Bull etin , 126 , 910–24.Mellor, P. a nd Shilling, C . (1997). Re-forming the body: Religion, community and modernity . London: Sage.

Miles, M. (1992). Carnal knowing . Tunbridge Wells, Kent : B urns & O ates.Miller, D . (1997). Co uld shopping ever matter? In P . Falk and C . Campbell (E ds.),

The shopping exper ience . Thousand O aks, CA : Sage.

Mintz, S. (1997). Sugar and morality. In A. B rand t and P . Rozin (Eds.), Morality and health . London: R outledge.

Murcott , A. (1983). ‘It ’s a pleasure to cook fo r him’: Food, mea ltimes and gender


177




19/20

in South Wales households. In E . G ama rnikow, D . Morgan, J. P urvis and D .

Tay lorson (E ds.), The pr ivate and the publi c . London: H einemann.Netter, P. (1996). Hea lth and pleasure. In D . Warburton a nd N. Sherwood (E ds.),

Pleasure and quality o f l if e . Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Nettleto n, S. and B unton, R . (1995). Sociological critiques of health promo tion. In

R . B unton, S. Nettleton and R . B urrows (Ed s.), The sociol ogy of health promotion: Consumption, l if estyle and r isk . New York: Ro utledge

Nietzsche, F. (1966 [1888]). The bir th of tragedy . Trans. W. K aufma n. New York:Vintage.

O chs, E ., Pontecorvo, C . and Fasulo, A . (1996). Socializing taste. Ethnos , 61 , 7–46.O ’Ma lley, P. a nd Mugford, S. (1991). The dema nd fo r intoxicating commodities:

Implications for the ‘War on D rugs’. Social Justice , 18 , 49–75.P arker, H . and Mea sham, F. (1994). P ick ‘n mix: Cha nging patterns of illicit drug

use amongst 1990s adolescents. D rug Education, Prevention and Policy , 1 , 5–13.P etersen, A. a nd L upton, D . (1997). The new publ ic health: H ealth and self in the

age of r isk . London: Sage.Pfeffer, R. (1972). N ietzsche: D isciple of D ionysus . Lewisburg: B ucknell U niversity

Press.

Plant, S. (1999). Wr iting on drugs . Lond on: Faber & Faber.Porter, R . and M ulvey Roberts, M. (1996). Pleasure in the eighteenth century .

B asingstoke: Ma cMillan P ress.

R ichard s, A. and E lliott , B . (1910). The chemistry of cook ing and cleaning . Bo ston,MA : Whitcomb & B arrow s.

R ozin, P., Fischler, C., I mad a, S. a nd Wresniewski. (1999). At titudes to foo d a nd

the role of f ood in life in the U SA, J apan, Flemish B elgium, and France: Possible

implications for the diet and health deba te. Appetite , 33 , 163–80.Schoennesson, L . and D olezal, C . (1998). HIV-related risk facto rs among Sw edishgay men. Scandinavian Journal of Sexology , 1 , 51–62.

Shapiro. (1999). D ances with drugs: Pop music, drugs and youth culture. In N.

South (Ed.), D rugs: Cultures, controls and everyday li fe . London: Sage.Shiner, M. and Newburn, T. (1997). D efi nitely maybe not? The norma lisation o f

recreationa l drug use amo ngst young people. Sociology , 31 , 511–29.Shiner, M. and Newburn, T. (1999). Taking tea with Noel: The place a nd mea ning

of drug use in everyday life. In N. South (E d.), D rugs: Cul tures, contr ols and everyday li fe . London: Sage.

Sout h, N., E d. (1999). D rugs: Cultures, controls and everyday li fe . London: Sage.Southgate, E . and H opwoo d, M. (1999). Mardi G ras says be drug free: Accountingfor resistance, pleasure and the demand fo r illicit d rugs. health: An I nterdi scipli nary Journal fo r the Social Study of H ealth, Il lness and M edicine , 3 ,303–16.

St B enedict . (1966). The ru le of St Benedict . Trans. Ca rdinal G asquet. New York:C ooper Sq uare P ublishers.

Sul, H . (1999). The tubs of plea sure: Tudor and St uar t spas. I nternational Journal of the H istory of Sport , 16 , 148–58.

Sulkunen, P . (1992). The European new middle class . Aldershot: Avebury.Thornton, S. (1995).

Club culture: M edia and subcultural capital . C ambridge: Polity

Press.

Tiger, L. (1992). The pursui t of pleasure . B oston, MA: Little, B rown & C ompany.Tryon, T. (1695). A new method for educating chi ld ren or, rules and dir ections fo r

health: 7(2)

178




20/20

the well or deri ng and governing of them . London: J. Sa lisbury & J. H arris.Turner, B . (1982). G overnment o f the b ody : Medical regimens and the

rationalisation of diet. Bri tish Journal of Sociol ogy , 33 , 254–69.Turner, B . (1995). Introd uction. In P. C rott y Good nutri tion? Fact and fiction in

dietary advice . St Leo nards, NSW: Allen & U nwin.

Valverde, M. (1999). D iseases of the wi ll : A lcoho l and the di lemmas of fr eedom .C ambridge: U niversity P ress.

Warburton, D . (1994). Pleasure: The poli tics and the reality . New Yo rk: John Wiley& Sons.

Warburton, D . and Sherw ood , N. (1996). Pleasure and quality o f l if e . New York:Jo hn Wiley & Sons.

Warde, A. a nd Ma rtens, L. (1999). E at ing out: R eflections on the experiences of

consumers in England . In J. G ermov and L . Williams (Ed s.), The sociol ogy of food and nutri tion: T he social appetite . Melbourne: Oxford U niversity P ress.

Warde, A . and Ma rtens, L. (2000). Eating out: Social di ff erentiation, consumption

and pleasure . C ambridge: Ca mbridge U niversity P ress.Williams, S.J. (1998). H ealth as mo ral performance: R itual t ransgression and

taboo. health: An I nterdi scipli nary Journal fo r the Social Study of H ealth, Il lness and M edicine , 2 , 435–57.

Williams, S. (2000 ) Emotion and soci al theory: cor poreal reflections on the ir(rational) . London: Sage.

Wilton, T. (1996). Sex education . In R ichardson (E d.), Theor ising heterosexuali ty: Tell ing i t straight . B uckingham: O pen U niversity P ress.

Author biographi es

J O H N C OV ENE Y is Senior L ecturer in the D epartment of P ublic H ealth at FlindersU niversity, Adela ide, Austra lia. He worked in clinical dietetics and public health

nutrition before entering academia. His teaching and research interests are in food

policy and hea lth promotion. H is most recent book, Food, morals and meaning: The pleasure and anxi ety of eating , was published by Routledge in 2000.

R OBI N BU N TON is P rofessor of Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, U niversity

of Teesside, Middlesbrough, U K. H e tea ches and researches in sociology w ith

part icular interests in health promo tion, drug misuse and the bo dy. H e has published

widely in the field of health and is Editor of the journal, Cri tical Public H ealth

(Taylor & Francis).


179

Documents

Health e Prazer