Chapter 7 Flashcards
(22 cards)
What kind of physical appearance is considered deviant
¬ Which forms of voluntary physical appearance are considered deviant depends on the sociohistorical context.
¬ Voluntary aspects of physical appearance that may be stigmatized also associated with certain lifestyle groups.
o Appearance is only one aspect of an overall lifestyle based on political, philosophical, or social foundations.
¬ Physical appearances are involuntary in nature which have little to no choice regarding these aspects, but may also still be stigmatized by society
Why is the boundary between voluntary and involuntary forms of physical appearance somewhat blurred?
o What is considered “voluntary” varies across cultures and over time, and may even vary across subgroups within a single culture.
Culture appropriation
adopting elements of another culture without regard for their history or meaning
Body projects
the ways that each of us adapts, changes, or controls characteristics of our bodies and whether those characteristics are voluntary or involuntary
Four different types of body projects
o Camouflaging projects: “normative” techniques of body manipulation, learned in socialization processes
o Extending projects: attempt to overcome one’s physical limitations
o Adapting projects: parts of the body are removed or repaired for a host of aesthetic or medical reasons
o Redesigning projects: reconstruct the body in lasting ways.
Objective perspective
bodies tell us about the characteristics of individuals involved in specific body projects.
Subjective perspective
focuses on the characteristics of an individual person, the role that physical appearance plays in how people come to understand themselves, others, and the world around them
¬ Bodies with tattoos, piercings, and other forms of body modification tell a story about the individual, usually two issues: risk and motivation.
o Much of the risk-oriented research highlights psychological and behavioural risk
o The extent to which body modification may be associated with other risky behaviours seem to vary based on several other factors, such as the number of modifications an individual has and age.
o Risk is greater for younger people than adults, the younger you are to obtain a body modification the greater the risk.
♣ Being stigmatized for body modification might lead to them adopting deviant behaviour—looking glass self and becoming the label or status?
How does physical appearance tie into Howard Becker
¬ Physical appearance constitutes Howard Becker’s master status—the primary label we attach to a person that subsequently defines who the person is. The auxiliary traits we attach to master statuses are what make them significant
How does body modification vary
¬ The prevalence of body modification varies by age, and by other characteristics within age groups.
Subjective view
¬ we view body modification shifts so we are learning about both the broader social structures and processes. Body projects are part of people’s understanding of themselves, others, and the world around them.
o Decisions on whether to engage in body modification and the precise nature of any body art are all part of constructing our “front-stage” selves and “back-stage” selves.
o Subjectivists—Narrative approach: body art tells the stories of our lives.
Established femininity
embodies the dominant cultural constructions of what a female body should look like
Resistant femininity
¬ opposes dominant gender ideals and thereby serves as a form of resisting to existing structures of power in society.
Objectivist view
we learn about individuals when viewing body modification
Stories of work
¬ Body modification and work are intertwined in several ways.
o Might signify membership in a specific occupational group
o May reflect an individual’s identity as a worker.
o Certain workplaces may accept body art, others do not.
o Attitudes toward body modification vary depending on the occupation of the body modification
Stigmatization
¬ is the result of the ways that observers interpret certain forms of body modification
o Social typing process, certain auxiliary traits may be associated with having body arts
o Respond to stigmatization with concealment, embracing their body modifications, respond collectively by actively trying to change workplace norms.
Stories of interpersonal relationships
¬ People’s close interpersonal relationships are interwoven with their body modifications.
o Interactions with family members and peers may influence the individual’s decisions about body art.
o Body art designs may integrate close interpersonal relatonships as well.
o Some people take involuntary tattoos and turn them into voluntary tattoos.
Subjective view
we learn about norms governing gender and the ways that people may accept or resist those norms through their choices in body modification.
focus on social definitions of the ideal body, the social control of body weight, and the implications of those social messages.
¬ The ideals of physical attractiveness stem largely from media portrayals
o These media perpetuated ideals are fashions in that they become the standards for attractiveness in society.
o Body ideals may also be communicated and reinforced through interpersonal interactions
¬ The ideal found within media is a type of social control in itself. what are they
Commercialization, medicalization, governments, communities, etc.
The ideal found within media is a type of social control in itself.
o Media are also a tool used by other agents of social control—ex, campaigns feature billboard and videos online to educate people
o Integration of advertisements and commercials for weight-loos and fitness products.
o Commercialization: providing a massive range of producs for controlling body size.
o Medicalization: Overweight is a health risk. Medical community is heaviy involved in thw social control of people who are “too fat” by telling patients to change their diets or increase their physical activity.
o Governments: Negatively impacting the health of large numbers of people, nations experience economic drains from consequences like health care costs, absenteeism from work of illness, lower levels of productivity at work, and lost tax revenue.
o Communities: individual communities have developed a wide range of measures to reduce the proportion of people who are overweight such as programs and efforts to reduce weight integrated in school programs.
o Social control can lead to healthier choices or the pervasiveness of such measures contributes to a “fear of fatness” and body dissatisfaction
o Social control measures may trigger the adoption of a “fat” identity in individuals—see themselves as “fat” when external cues them that indication. A deviant definition of the self is subsequently internalized and a “fat” identity emerges.
o Media is a primary form of social control but it also resists that social typing process—ex, articles about dangers of some diets, body positivity
Medicalization, education, and formal education
the medical community frequently in conjunction with social agencies and programs, makes people who are at the most extreme end of the thinness subject to social control efforts.
o Government: banning underweight models in fashion
o Schools: bringing speakers to talk about eating disorders.
