Studying Embodiment - Studying Social Life - Lecture Notes, Study notes of Social Work

Download Studying Embodiment - Studying Social Life - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Social Work in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture 5: Studying Embodiment In our final lecture in this section, we will focus on two writers who have had a significant impact on the sociology of the body: Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu. We will first address Elias’s concept of ‘the civilising process’, through which individuals and groups are increasingly differentiated as ‘civilised’ (i.e., self-disciplined and restrained) and ‘non-civilised’ (i.e., undisciplined and vulgar) according to their ability to control bodily functions and emotions. The civilised individual is someone we now describe as ‘well-mannered’: s/he does not allow biological functions to intrude upon social interaction and feels ‘ashamed’ when controls fail. Thus, while vulgarity is a source of the negative emotions of shame and embarrassment to the civilised individual, it is much less so to the vulgar person. According to Elias, the civilising process in Western culture has taken place over a long period of time and is closely linked to power struggles and social control in what he calls ‘the court society’ of the aristocracy. As a long term process of external struggle for social predominance, it results in the development of internalised patterns of self-control, or what we sometimes describe as ‘the conscience’. Like Elias, Bourdieu sees the body’s management as central to the acquisition of social status. In particular, Bourdieu discusses the body as a form of ‘physical capital’, meaning a resource that can be used as we attempt to acquire additional capital (be it economic, cultural, social or symbolic). Capital is relevant for Bourdieu’s perspective in part because it is the basis of social class. In turn, class-based circumstances produce different orientations to the body; while the working classes tend to see the body as a means to an end, the middle classes are more likely to treat the body as an end in itself. These processes and their end result are important to Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction because there are very real differences in the physical capital associated with particular bodily forms. Generally speaking, the set of characteristics common in working class bodies – including posture and gesture, accent, dress, etc. – are not valued as highly as the bodily forms of the dominant classes. And yet, Bourdieu argues that the lesser social worth associated with working class embodiment is not arbitrary; rather, it results from the fact that the dominant class is better positioned to define its own bodily style as superior. The lecture will conclude with a discussion of two pieces of empirical research that illustrate several of Bourdieu’s concepts and insights. First, we will consider Beverley Skeggs’s analysis of working class women’s subjective experiences of class and gender. Skeggs conducted interviews and ethnographic research with 82 working-class women over a period of 12 years. She shows that her respondents are conscious of their class position and that they try to distance themselves from it through bodily displays intended to allow the women to ‘pass’ as middle class. Merl Storr’s research on Ann Summers lingerie parties shows a different side of class- based bodily practices. According to Storr, her lower-middle- and working-class respondents enjoy Ann Summers lingerie in part because they recognise that it is unappealing to the ‘snobbish’ and ‘boring’ preferences of ‘posh’ women. Thus, even though Ann Summers lingerie represents an expensive treat for party-goers, Storr argues that its purchase reflects the rejection of – rather than an aspiration to – middle class tastes. docsity.com