The Construction of the Health Consumer: Discourse, Reality and the New Media
Esma Gültüvin Gür OmayThe aim of this paper is to discuss the impact the healthism discourse being transmitted through new media has on creating social reality in the construction of the health consumer. Because of consumption culture, health as one of the most important elements of humanity has been turned into a marketable object. Capitalism’s interest in consumption began with the perception that the continuity of the capitalist economic system could not be achieved through production alone. As a result of capitalism’s control and regulation of consumption areas, the phenomenon of health has become an object and begun being marketed. Perceiving some changes specific to the natural biological stages of human life as diseases or having interest groups introduce some natural functions of the human body to society as diseases within the framework of a culture of fear have further exacerbated this problem. In addition, capitalism is seen to have internalized the problems the crowded, urbanized, and industrialized world has brought, as well as the diseases that have been caused by depriving large masses from opportunities such as natural food and clean air, and to have transformed these into new marketable objects to serve its own interests. In this respect, the construction of the health consumer became important in the 20th century, a process that has continued with the expansion of the healthcare market in the 21st century. This expansion has largely occurred thanks to new media. The new media uses the phenomenon of health to attract attention, create a sensation, sell products, fill the agenda, gain commercial profit, and nourish and adopt consumerism and consumption culture. In this respect, health consumers are persuaded by the discourses spread from new media. Capitalism uses the discourse of being healthy to manage all these processes. These discourses serve to create a new social reality and societies obsessed with health.
Sağlık Tüketicisinin İnşasında Söylem, Gerçeklik ve Yeni Medya
Esma Gültüvin Gür OmayBu çalışmanın amacı sağlık tüketicisinin inşasında yeni medya aracılığıyla iletilen söylemlerin toplumsal gerçekliği oluşturmaya etkisini irdelemektir. Tüketim kültürü sayesinde insana ait en önemli unsurlardan biri olan sağlık pazarlanabilir bir nesneye dönüştürülmüştür. Kapitalizmin tüketime olan ilgisi üretimin ekonomik sistemin devamlılığını sadece üretimle sağlanamayacağının anlaşılmasıyla başlamıştır. Tüketim alanının kapitalizm tarafından denetlenip, düzenlenmesi sonucu sağlık olgusu nesneleşmiş ve pazarlanmaya başlanmıştır. İnsan yaşamının doğal biyolojik evrelerine özgü bazı değişimlerin hastalık olarak algılatılması ya da insan vücudunun doğal bazı fonksiyonlarının çıkar grupları tarafından hastalık olarak topluma tanıtılması ve bunun korku kültürü çerçevesinde yapılması bu sorunu daha da şiddetlendirmektedir. Bu sorunun ötesinde, kalabalıklaşan, şehirleşen ve sanayileşen dünyanın beraberinde getirdiği sorunlar, doğal gıda ve temiz hava gibi imkânlardan geniş kitlelerin yoksun bırakılmalarından kaynaklanan hastalıkların, kapitalizm tarafından içselleştirildiği ve kendi çıkarlarına hizmet edecek biçimde yeni pazarlanabilir nesnelere dönüştürüldüğü görülmektedir. Bu açıdan sağlık tüketicisinin inşası 20. yüzyılda önemli hale gelmiş, 21. yüzyılda ise bu süreç sağlık pazarının genişlemesiyle devam etmiştir. Sağlık pazarının genişlemesi büyük ölçüde yeni medya sayesinde olmuştur. Sağlık olgusu yeni medyada ilgi çekmek sansasyon yaratmak, ürün satmak, gündemi doldurmak, ticari kazanç sağlamak, tüketimi ve tüketim kültürünü beslemek ve benimsetmek adına kullanılmaktadır. Bu açıdan sağlık tüketicisi yeni medyadan yayılan söylemlerle ikna edilmektedir. Kapitalizm tüm bu süreçleri yönetebilmek için “sağlıklı olmak” (healthism) söyleminden yararlanmaktadır. Bu söylemler yeni toplumsal gerçekliğin oluşmasına hizmet etmekte ve sağlığına takıntılı toplumlar meydana getirmektedir.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact that the healthism discourse being transmitted through new media has on creating social reality with regard to the construction of the health consumer. Health is one of the most important elements of humanity and has been turned into a marketable object as a result of consumption culture. Capitalism’s interest in consumption began with the understanding that the continuity of the economic system could not be achieved through production alone. As a result of capitalism’s control and regulation of areas of consumption, the phenomenon of health has been objectified and begun being marketed. Perceiving some changes specific to the natural biological stages of human life as diseases or having interest groups introduce some natural functions of the human body to society as diseases and doing this within the framework of a culture of fear have further exacerbated this problem. In addition, capitalism is seen to have internalized the problems brought by the crowded, urbanizing, and industrializing world, as well as the diseases resulting from depriving large masses of such opportunities as natural food and clean air, and to have transformed these into new marketable objects to serve its own interests. In this respect, the construction of the health consumer became important in the 20th century and has continued with the expansion of the healthcare market in the 21st century, largely thanks to new media. The new media uses the phenomenon of health to attract attention, create a sensation, sell products, fill the agenda, gain commercial profit, and nourish and adopt consumerism and consumption culture. In this respect, health consumers are persuaded by the discourses being spread from new media. These discourses serve to create a new social reality and societies obsessed with health.
Consumption culture is the reason why health attracts people’s attention. This has fostered a culture of being healthy (i.e., healthism), which has especially developed in the middle classes throughout the 20th century. This culture brings people who are in need of information about their own health to seek direct contact with the health industry and the media, and this environment has been fueled by structured beliefs in the power of capitalism. In this context, consumerism has functional meanings, and the new media achieves this through various discourses, presenting consumerism as a means of power, happiness, and health. The media has also been the disseminator and reinforcer of the consumption ideology, with its discourses emphasizing healthism by reinforcing this ideology.
The transmission of discourses has gained speed with new media, and through its magnifying effect, the healthism discourse has become popularized and adopted by large masses. New media plays a significant role in constructing reality by appearing as channels through which discourse is constructed. The circulation of ideologies and discourses constantly repeats itself in new media. These discourses circulate rapidly through news, influencers, shares, and likes, which serve to form social reality by reinforcing these discourses while repeating themselves nonstop.
As a result, capitalism uses information technologies and information itself in particular as a fundamental tool in this transformation. Accordingly, new media plays an active role in social transformation, whether knowingly or unknowingly. In the process of creating discourses for health consumers and delivering them to the masses, new media transforms consumption culture and the field of health with its multi-modal structure, contributing to the formation of a health-obsessed social reality.
In this context, the new opportunities the new media and multi- modes of communication offer are important in terms of reaching and influencing large audiences. In the context of healthism, this interaction takes place over a wide range of areas, such as diet, beauty, sports, treatment prescriptions, and nutrition, and the masses are becoming more and more interested in their health. In the context of being health consumers, the masses are persuaded by fear culture discourses through new media and use the recommended products or spend accordingly to stay healthy.
