Textbook Questions Chapter 7 Flashcards
Niccolo Machiavelli’s The prince, an advisor to the prince directs him to shape his public image saying:
“Men generally judge more by the eye than by the hand, for everyone can see and few can feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few really know who you are.”
Turney (2019) about appearance
“appearance is one of the most significant forms of communication in our increasingly visual world”
What appearance was deviant in the 1950s
Slicked-back hair, “dungarees”, and leather jackets
What appearance was deviant in the 1960s and 1970s
Men with long hair who wore beads
Forms of physical appearance involuntary in nature
Height, size of one’s nose, shape of one’s eyes, or visible disabilities
Nene Leakes
Criticized for wearing a button blanket (which has important ceremonial meaning in Tlingit and Haida cultures) as a fashion item. These types of things led to public debates over cultural appropriation.
Master Status
Physical appearance constitutes this master status, the primary label we attach to a person that subsequently defines who the person is.
History of tattooing
- Oldest known tattoo was found on a 5300 year old mummy named Otzi, uncovered in the Alps when layers of ice melted in the changing climate.
- Archaeologists have found evidence of tattooing and piercing on bodies and represented on artifacts on every continent except Antarctica
Research by Gueguen
Men walking along the beach were more likely to approach a woman with a tattoo than a woman without one, “not because they found the tattooed women to be more attractive, but because they believed the tattooed women would be more likely to have sex on a first date”
Tylka and Calogero describe media-perpetuated ideals as
“fictions,” “fashions,” and “functions”
1. Fictions - Only a select few can realistically achieve them
2. Fashions - They become standards for attractiveness in society
3. Functions - “They dictate gender-specific functions of men’s and women’s bodies”
Chapter Summary on Physical Appearance
All of us engage in body projects that change our bodies’ functioning or appearance. Social scientists propose that the appearance of people’s bodies can convey many important messages.
Chapter Summary on Body Modification
Body modification may tell us about the characteristics of individuals, the processes involved in coming to understand the self, and the discourses and structures of power in the larger society
Chapter Summary on Body Weight and Size
Body size and weight are a nexus for social typing that occurs everywhere around us daily. The “ideal” body weight can be defined scientifically based on health risks or socially on the basis of social standards
Chapter Summary on “Too Fat”
People who are considered “too fat” are perceived negatively in our society and subjected to a wide range of informal and formal social controls. Informal social interactions, discriminatory practices, the media, commercial products, medical services, government programs, and community services all target “too fat.”
Chapter Summary on “Too Thin”
A label of “too thin” is usually not attached to people until they reach an extreme level of thinness. Once that label is attached, social control efforts are initiated through formal prevention and intervention measures, the media, and personal interactions.
