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SO4025: Body Work and Body Workers

Lecture 1: The Body in Sociology

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First things first… Debra Gimlin – Office: Edward

Wright F20; phone: x2771; email: d.gimlin@abdn.ac.uk

Tutorials Course guide Readings Lecture outlines Lecture format

SO4025

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Outline

Reintroduce Sociology of the Body The body as an ‘absent presence’ in

classical sociology

Anthropology’s attention to the body

Topics covered in Body & Society

Overview of this semester’s themes

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The Body in Sociology

An ‘absent presence’ in early sociology Emergence of the discipline

• Marks out a ‘sociological’ domain• Differentiates ‘social’ from ‘biological’ and

‘individual’• Largely disregards genetic and

psychological factors

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The Body in Sociology

An ‘absent presence’ in early sociology Concerns of the early ‘sociologists’

• Character of industrial urban societies• Social order• Rational action• Social structure (rather than nature)

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The Body in Sociology

The body was still relevant to early sociological analyses The ascetic body of Puritanism (Weber)

• Warns against the move towards rationalisation

Human bodily labour in industrial capitalism (Marx)• Capitalism requires the continual production

and reproduction of human bodies

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The Body in Anthropology

The body is an key concern for this discipline Focus on human universals Importance of body in rites of

passage Debate concerning social Darwinism

• e.g., emotional expression

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The Social Body

1. Central to notions of the self (Mead)2. Mediates the relationship between self and other

(Goffman)3. Reflects the social system (Douglas, Elias)4. Provides for social classification 5. Conveys social role 6. Can undermine performances7. Speaks to gender inequalities 8. Prominence within consumer culture9. Social life/interaction is mediated through the

body

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Body Work

Transforms the ‘natural’ body into a social entity

Involves numerous industries and organisations: Beauty/fashion Food Entertainment Education Medicine Sports/leisure

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Body Work Running: 90 mins Bathing: 20 mins Hair: 20 mins Food prep: 90 mins Eating: 90 mins Teeth: 10 mins Other: 30 mins

~ 6 hours

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Body Work and Body Workers

Focus on the work done to make ‘natural’ bodies into social products

Attention to social structure (without ignoring culture) Also to individual agency

Theoretical perspectives Bodily development and social location The commodified body The body as physical capital

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Body Work and Body Workers The body as ‘project’:

reflects an individual identity Related to conditions of high modernity

• Decline in traditional sources of identity• Generalised sense of ‘risk’• Increasing ability to rationalise the body• Intensified focus on consumption

The body is one of the last arenas open to control• Also an individual responsibility

That control is far from absolute: dieting, disease, reproduction

Ethical questions: biotechnology, genetic engineering, sports medicine

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Summary

The body in sociology (more and less) Anthropology and the body

The ‘social’ body Body Work & Body Workers

Relevant industries The role of agency Bodily development/commodification Physical capital The body as project