Fitness and the Postmodern Self

This essay suggests that contemporary fitness practices share aesthetic and ideological commitments with other activities that have been classified as postmodern. The aesthetic similarities are evident in the use of pastiche and simulation by manufacturers of exercise machines and videotapes. In terms of ideology, the pursuit of fitness is promoted as an opportunity for individuals to avert several of the risks to selfhood thought to be present in modern social organization. Implications for G.H. Mead's theory of the self are discussed.