What does this research mean for the field?

The neoliberal university enforces weight stigma by demanding bodily conformity as a prerequisite for professional survival, weaponizing wellness discourse to equate fatness with a lack of discipline and intellectual competence. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.CHALLENGES_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

Examine how weight stigma operates within higher education institutions and evaluate how bodily conformity influences professional advancement and tenure.

August 22, 2026Fat Studies

Corporate academic body capital: weight stigma, masculinity, and the embodied corporate academy in Chile

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Authors

JEJuan Felipe Espinosa‐Cristia

Discussion

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Overview

Autoethnographic study reveals how institutional weight stigma enforces bodily conformity during tenure review, indicating that universities link physical appearance to professional legitimacy.

Key Points

Examine how weight stigma operates within higher education institutions and evaluate how bodily conformity influences professional advancement and tenure.
Conducted an autoethnographic analysis based on field notes recorded during concurrent bariatric surgery and an academic tenure application in Chile.
Integrated Bourdieu's theory of capital, sociological stigma theory, and fat studies frameworks to analyze institutional practices, interpersonal dynamics, and wellness discourses.
Identified 'corporate academic body capital' as a professional asset where weight-normative bodies are implicitly associated with discipline and intellectual competence.
Demonstrated that weight stigma operates through structural exclusion, interpersonal credibility deficits and surveillance, and internalized pressure to overperform.
Showed that institutional wellness initiatives function to enforce bodily conformity as an unspoken prerequisite for career security.

Cite This Study

Juan Felipe Espinosa‐Cristia (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a895f41ca7ade938187dc44 https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2026.2719050

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August 22, 2026Fat Studies

Corporate academic body capital: weight stigma, masculinity, and the embodied corporate academy in Chile

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

JEJuan Felipe Espinosa‐Cristia

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Autoethnographic study reveals how institutional weight stigma enforces bodily conformity during tenure review, indicating that universities link physical appearance to professional legitimacy.

Key Points

Examine how weight stigma operates within higher education institutions and evaluate how bodily conformity influences professional advancement and tenure.
Conducted an autoethnographic analysis based on field notes recorded during concurrent bariatric surgery and an academic tenure application in Chile.
Integrated Bourdieu's theory of capital, sociological stigma theory, and fat studies frameworks to analyze institutional practices, interpersonal dynamics, and wellness discourses.
Identified 'corporate academic body capital' as a professional asset where weight-normative bodies are implicitly associated with discipline and intellectual competence.
Demonstrated that weight stigma operates through structural exclusion, interpersonal credibility deficits and surveillance, and internalized pressure to overperform.
Showed that institutional wellness initiatives function to enforce bodily conformity as an unspoken prerequisite for career security.

Cite This Study

Juan Felipe Espinosa‐Cristia (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a895f41ca7ade938187dc44 https://doi.org/10.1080/21604851.2026.2719050

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