Andrew Dickson
Doctor of Philosophy
Study Completed: 2012
Massey Business School
Citation
Thesis Title
The Other Side of Weight Loss: A Lacanian Autoethonography of Weight-anxiety
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
The weight loss industry is very profitable. Primarily this is because a large proportion of the population are currently trying to lose weight and are happy to spend money on this. Mr Dickson considered the weight loss industry from a critical psychoanalytic perspective, changing the focus from weight loss to weight anxiety. His research presents a radical new theory of weight loss consumerism, one that reveals the growing anxiety at the heart of the weight loss consumer and questions the ethics of promoting weight loss. Using autoethnographic methods Mr Dickson also explored the unconscious of men who suffer at the hands of the wider weight loss industry.
Supervisors
Associate Professor Craig Prichard
Professor Mandy Morgan