Peer Pressure in Fitness

Soul Cycle

It is a funny thing about how Soul Cycle and other usually over-priced fitness and similar classes pervade popular culture nowadays. It is also not all that uncommon to hear mentions of CrossFit and other fitness phenomenon in the normal daily lexicon of language. The author of this report will define whether popular workout classes meet the common definition of popular culture and why that might be the case. The author will talk about the thinkers talked about in the readings viewed Soul Cycle. Whether the authors approve or disapprove of the nature of the classes will be discussed. The author will conclude with a revised personal perspective about the matter in its entirety. While people becoming and keeping fit is a good thing, there are some aspects of Soul Cycle and similar classes that are a little concerning and perplexing.

Analysis

In the author's opinion, the over-priced fitness classes mentioned in this report do indeed qualify as popular culture under the traditional definitions. Just about anything can become part of popular culture. Sometimes, it is completely random and with no major reason. The author of this report would point to the Life Alert and similar emergency necklaces for seniors and disabled and how their "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up" has been around for years yet it is still made fun of, brought up and otherwise mentioned in popular culture. Another example the author of this report can point to is the "don't tase me bro" line that was brought about by a man at a John Kerry political rally who wouldn't yield the microphone and was eventually tased for not leaving when asked.

The fitness crazes and classes of today are not quite that random and ubiquitous. However, they are still very much a part of popular culture and thus there will be further analysis that centers on the perspectives and opinions of authors that also covered the subject. Before getting into that, however, Soul Cycle should be defined and summarized. A group of exercisers are mounted on bikes and they do workouts in alignment including variances in speed and so forth. A Vanity Fair article about the class not-so-subtly drops the word "cult" when it speaks about the classes. However, "cult trainer" Stacey Griffith, the leader of one of the SoulCycle classes, shouts "you're all sexy" and "that is a sexy-ass sport right here." She also says "if you weren't sexy, confident, and strong, you wouldn't be here" (Grigoriadis). Indeed, this would seem to be a sterling example of popular culture at work.

Literature Review

Culture was once the paradigm and realm for the upper class and well-to-do. However, Rosenberg and White note that this came tumbling down in the early 1800's (Rosenberg, and White). Adorno and Horkheimer asserted as far back as the 1940's that when it comes to the "culture industry," what would seem to come across as enlightenment may actually be mass deception. To further make the point, they assert that there is a "ruthless unity in the culture industry." When it comes to the fitness classes referenced in this report, one could suggest that peer pressure and not looking weak in front of one's peers is emblematic of the culture industry and where we are nowadays. Perhaps this really wasn't the case in the 1940's but vanity is surely a factor in the modern society (Adorno, and Horkheimer). The work of Edmonds points to the fact that the culture industry is backed and pushed by giant corporations that center on profit and control. One could certainly see that in the fixation on vanity and fitness being employed and used to over-charge customers that do the Soul Cycle workouts and the like (Edmonds).

As far as a third party source of what can be referred to and defined as an element and part of popular culture, Storey offers his perspective. One of the three definitions he offers is "a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group" (Storey). That definition could certainly be applied to a Soul Cycle or similar group of fitness class attendees. Storey also admits that there are "various ways" to define popular culture in general and that they indeed render and manifest in many different ways every day (Storey) Schudson adds that popular culture can be broken down into subunits that include the production of culture objects, the content of the objects themselves and the reception of the objects and the meanings attributed to them by the general population or subpopulations of an area. Schudson also notes that the overall scope, depth and breadth of popular culture has evolved greatly over the years (Storey). However, others note that popular culture steals from high culture and "debases" it, making it less pristine and valuable than it used to be (Gans).