Summary

Bootstraps narratives are pervasive in American culture: an individual, down on his luck, overcomes adversity through sheer determination and finds success. When this story’s plot revolves around health, the individual draws on willpower, determination, and virtuous choices to overcome poor health and achieve success. This story is everywhere, but doesn’t include everything. It leaves out what we know to be true: that our environments and the systems in which we live, work, and play have a profound impact on our health.

To combat the health bootstraps narrative, we can widen the lens and show the ways in which individual characters are shaped by the conditions around them. Broadening the cast of characters allows us to frame health as a collective responsibility, not a matter of individual work ethic.

In this framing guide, we walk through how this narrative can show up in pop culture, and how to counter it by using four features of stories.