Excuse me if I try to say something about this subject about which I
have some
specific ideas though I understand they may seem trivial.
I think that obesity is related to eating habits, eating bad and fast.
The problem is complex, in Europe we have a lot less problems (but
growing) than in the US regarding obesity and most of them are in the
UK, that is the european country most similar to the US in term of
organization of life.
First of all eating a sandwich at lunch and then eating more in the
evening of course helps growing fat
because in the evening you don't usually do a lot of exercise after
eating.
In addition to this, eating an hamburger in a hurry does more damage
than eating a steak or
a pasta quietly.
I read somewhere that if you eat in a hurry you become fatter because
the body needs
some time to inform the brain the fact that you are already fed enough.
If you eat slowly, brain and body go along at the same time. If you eat
fast the brain commands more food
because the feedback comes later.
In this sense capitalism can cause obesity because puts people under
pressure.
If the weight of people will increase at the same time in which the
welfare system is dismantled
this theory will prove right. In the past poor people used to be slim,
nowadays the 'efficient wage' provides money to buy the food with
enough calories, the problem is that it is bad and fast food.
Fast not only in the eating part of the process, but also in the
manufacturing part of it. You are what you eat, after all.
Regarding capitalism and nuclear family, I personally think that
capitalism doesn't promote the nuclear
family at all. Actually atomization of society is certainly better
(from a capitalistic point of view, not mine)
because it makes the labour market more flexible and free from any
other bond except the wage (isnt't this what
orthodox theory says to be the optimum?).
If we think in term of 'cui prodest?' the target of capitalism is not a
nuclear family.
A family (made of more people) may need a tv and a washing machine and
a car.
2 individuals, or mono-families need 1 EACH.
Massimo Portolani
On 05/lug/05, at 06:27, Michael Perelman wrote:
It works both ways. Adam Smith's student, John Millar, worked out the
capital logic
of the nuclear family. At the same time, it also leads in the
direction that you
say. That is why David's prof. seemed to make sense to me.
On Tue, Jul 05, 2005 at 12:15:55AM -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
Perelman, Michael wrote:
Capitalism perpetuates the nuclear family
Not really. Capitalism has undermined patriarchy, and promoted
rampant queerness. All fixed, frozen relations; all that's solid, etc.
Doug
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
