The Wellness Industry and the Right-Wing: How Individualism Undermines True Community Care

The wellness industry has long been associated with self-improvement, holistic health, and alternative healing. What once may have been a space for personal well-being and community-based healing practices has now, in many ways, been co-opted to serve the interests of capitalism, individualism, and, increasingly, right-wing ideology. Scary stuff right?

THe individualisation of wellness

In the past, wellness was a collective endeavor, rooted in cultural traditions that emphasised communal care, mutual aid, and interdependence. However, in recent years, wellness has been commodified and marketed as a personal journey—one that relies on individual purchasing power rather than community support. The modern wellness movement promotes the idea that you can achieve optimal health through self-discipline, purchasing the right supplements, following specific diets, or engaging in certain lifestyle practices.

This hyper-individualised view of wellness aligns closely with right-wing ideologies that prioritise personal responsibility over systemic change. Rather than addressing the root causes of health disparities—such as lack of access to healthcare, food scarcity, environmental racism, and economic inequality—the wellness industry often places the burden of well-being entirely on the individual.

The narrative becomes: If you’re unwell, it’s because you’re not trying hard enough, not because the system is failing you.

This can be seen nationally and globally in everything from social media to our governments policies and in the mainstream media (sorry, I hate using the word ‘mainstream’ it makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist).

Wellness as a Tool for Capitalism

The commercialisation of wellness has led to the appropriation of various cultural practices that were originally meant to be communal. Yoga, meditation, herbal medicine, and other traditional healing methods have been stripped of their cultural and historical contexts and repackaged as premium products for individual consumption. Their roots have been forgotten and not honoured.

Many feel that they’ve stumbled upon the next big thing when it has been a cultural and historical practice for decades in another part of the world.

This commodification benefits corporations and influencers (social and otherwise) who profit from these practices, rather than the communities that created them.

Additionally, the push for self-optimisation—biohacking, restrictive diets, and wellness retreats—reinforces capitalist ideals of productivity and self-sufficiency. There are many ‘grifters’ within the wellness industry praying on vulnerable people to sell their product/coaching package etc etc.

This framework implies that if individuals can just perfect themselves, they will be rewarded with success, happiness, and longevity. It dismisses the reality that structural forces determine much of one’s access to well-being.

The Right-Wing Co-opting of Wellness

Right-wing ideologies have found a surprising foothold in the wellness space, particularly through narratives of bodily sovereignty, mistrust of mainstream medicine, and conspiracy theories. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how wellness influencers and alternative health proponents could be used to spread right-wing misinformation, fueling vaccine skepticism and anti-government rhetoric.

The crossover between wellness and right-wing extremism is not accidental. Both appeal to a sense of individual empowerment—whether it’s through rejecting public health measures or believing that personal wellness choices can insulate one from systemic issues. This intersection is particularly dangerous because it shifts the focus away from collective solutions, such as universal healthcare, environmental regulations, and community-based wellness initiatives, and instead fosters an “every person for themselves” mentality.

Reclaiming Wellness for the Community

If we are to combat the polycrisis—the overlapping crises of climate change, economic instability, public health failures, war, genocide and social injustice—we must reject the hyper-individualised model of wellness and return to community care. True wellness cannot exist in a vacuum; it is not about one person optimising their health at the expense of others. Instead, it is about ensuring that all people have access to the resources they need to thrive.

Community wellness means advocating for policies that support public health, fighting for universal healthcare, investing in local food systems, and recognising that well-being is deeply tied to social and economic justice. It means creating spaces where healing is not a luxury good but a shared responsibility.

By shifting the focus from individual success to collective well-being, we can dismantle the capitalist and right-wing narratives that have hijacked wellness and reclaim it as a tool for real, systemic change.

The future of wellness must be rooted in solidarity, not self-interest.

A personal tip of mine, if you are struggling with the polycrisis, I mean, if you’re human and have empathy, struggling in today’s uncertain times is perfectly natural, I highly recommend community care. Volunteering for local community initiatives in any way you can.

Be that offering your skills and services for free online to run a community initiative or physically helping at community events, charities, CIC’s and beyond. By becoming involved in your local community you’ll be at grass roots level lifting people up and creating change in the small pockets that you can. I cannot stress enough, community is everything and by connecting to yours, you’ll find a peace, sometimes at least, in doing so.

If you are able, protest, write to your MP about injustices the world over. By acting as one, we can try to change things, we just need more of us doing so.

Thanks for reading, Jayne xx