How Ordinary Became Extraordinary: The Structural Transformation of Wellness

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the infrastructure that had supported ordinary wellness began to change shape. Where there had been collective structures making certain things reliably available, there were now gaps. And into those gaps, wellness, as an industry emerged and expanded precisely as these older forms of infrastructure transformed. But it did not propose rebuilding what had changed. It did not suggest better food systems, neighbourhoods designed for daily movement, public spaces that supported gathering. Instead, it offered individual solutions to what had been collective functions.