Discourses on the Production of the Athletic Lean Body in Central Europe around 1900

The ideals of the athletic lean body are predominant in the public discourses and images of the present. They have an enormous normative power. There is a market of different techniques to enhance the body. Many people regard their own bodies as insufficient. This study interprets physicalness and its meanings as products of sociocultural discourses. These meanings therefore change over history. From the Renaissance to the middle of the nineteenth century, for instance, the ideal images of the body were predominantly corpulent. With the rise of the bourgeoisie around 1900, the lean body became desirable. During the same period, the idea came up that modern subjects are primarily self-responsible for fabricating their own lean and healthy body. The study will focus on the sociocultural contexts which led to the establishment of modern body discourses and shows how those are connected to sports.