Embodied resocialization at a children’s weight loss camp

Abstract

This paper examines the content and processes of embodied resocialization that occur at a children’s weight loss camp. Drawing on ethnographic and interview data, I provide the children’s accounts of their decision to attend camp. In addition to teaching the children to implement body projects through strategic and embodied means, the structured environment at camp allowed for the recalibration of the campers’ habits. Social control supported weight loss at camp but ultimately created problems for effective resocialization. This paper contributes to a better understanding of processes of embodied resocialization and the tension between self-control and social control when resocialization occurs in an immersive environment for a short period of time.