Capitalization of Pain: Anthropological Investigation on Body Ritual of Fitness Behavior
Abstract
There is a very contradictory problem in contemporary urban fitness: bodybuilders are willing to bear the pain of muscle tearing, and turn this "pain" into "capital" to show off in their circle of friends. Based on the investigation point of Chengdu L Gym, this paper
conducted a two-month observation to investigate the formation mechanism of this problem. It is found that the gym is dominated by three
disciplines: space-data-discourse, which is internalized as a "passing ceremony" by bodybuilders. This paper holds that the deep motivation of fitness addiction is that urban young people fight against social capital with their bodies. Using fitness words to "describe progress"
will make you fall into an endless cycle of self-transcendence. Fitness claims to liberate the body, but in fact it has established a new set of
more subtle shackles.
conducted a two-month observation to investigate the formation mechanism of this problem. It is found that the gym is dominated by three
disciplines: space-data-discourse, which is internalized as a "passing ceremony" by bodybuilders. This paper holds that the deep motivation of fitness addiction is that urban young people fight against social capital with their bodies. Using fitness words to "describe progress"
will make you fall into an endless cycle of self-transcendence. Fitness claims to liberate the body, but in fact it has established a new set of
more subtle shackles.
Keywords
Fitness behavior; Physical discipline; Adoption ceremony; Social capital; Physical anthropology
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/rcha.v4i6.9989
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