In What Ways Do Bodies Reflect Social Values Cultural Studies Essay

The organic structure is the material representation of each person, of their individuality, gustatory sensations and personal pick. Nowadays, in our consumer civilization, we have plentifulness of chances for modifying our organic structures in order to 'improve ' them and to maintain up with the societal norms for 'decent ' visual aspect. This essay aims to analyze the ways in which organic structures represent the modern-day societal values, every bit good as how these are both influenced and expressed by the 'fashioned organic structure ' theoretical account through media and advertisement.

By concentrating on the female image, I am foremost traveling to discourse the organic structure as a societal object, in order so to analyze the ways in which media and manner industry influence the societal function of organic structures. Finally, I am traveling to analyze to what extent the societal values and ideals find look through the manner persons maintain and transform their organic structures.

The manner we dress is every bit much a personal pick as influenced by cultural, cultural, spiritual and societal factors.

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A big figure of civilizations have their traditional form of vesture, which is more or less the same presents as in the yesteryear. As Polhemus ( 1988 ) provinces, `` all civilizations 'dress ' due organic structure in some manner, be it through vesture, tattooing, cosmetics or other signifiers of organic structure picture '' .

The manner we dress besides depends on the domain we are present at. For illustration, one dresses casually when they go out shopping, walking or run intoing friends, but they would dress cleverly if they go to a occupation interview or to a formal dinner.

We dress because we want to do our organic structures 'acceptable ' to a certain societal state of affairs ; to do ourselves experience comfy with it, to be perceived in a positive visible radiation ( Entwistle,2000 ) . Therefore, the organic structure is a symbol both of its cultural and societal location.

As the organic structure represents our personality, we strive for looking `` our best '' and `` up to the norms '' . We want to, and need to, be perceived good, this is why we try to show our qualities through our image, through conforming with the criterions. This, evidently, has a important impact on our communicating and societal presence as a whole.

Furthermore, through the manner we dress, place and perform with the organic structure, we get into certain societal circles, make contacts and do feeling, good or bad ; the organic structure is an object to be perceived by the universe.

However, as Entwistle ( 2002 ) argues, frock and accoutrements can ne'er be seen every bit complete as without being worn on the organic structure, and instead than being `` an object in the universe '' , the organic structure itself forms our `` point of position on the universe '' .

Bing identified by our organic structures means that we ourselves perceive and assess others the same manner. The manner we look depends on the societal norms, but it besides reflects them. Dressing `` suitably '' means that we conform with the societal and cultural criterions and values of the topographic point we are located in, so our organic structure both reflects our individuality and single characteristics, but it besides represents the criterions for `` a good expression '' , therefore, for personal qualities of a certain societal group. These norms are mostly imposed by the manner industry, advertizements and the media.

The important figure of organic structure care merchandises and processs, which are portion of nowadays life, point out the importance of visual aspect and bodily presentation in our consumer civilization. Within it, advertisement, media and manner industry provide a conventionalized image of the organic structure and accent on the impression that it is the best beginning of pleasance and self-expression. We become about obsessed with the thought of young person, wellness and physical beauty influenced by all the ocular dominant media, which imposes the thought that attractive visual aspect is the key to happiness or lie in its kernel. The human organic structure is non reduced to a basic biological being, but the new consumer civilization draws our attending to the visual aspect of the organic structure, the vesture, demeanor and gesture ( Kern, 1975 ) .

As Pachter ( 1975 ) points out today 's consumers choose and form new and different heroes who stay as an illustration of life style, visual aspect, believing and behavior. These majorly are famous persons whose chief feature is 'beauty ' and who profess 'a doctrine of enjoyment instead than subject and labor. ' ( Pachter,1975:330 ) Hollywood film besides helps to make new criterions of visual aspect and bodily presentation, seting a batch of accent on the importance of `` good expression '' by projecting glamourous images of famous person life style.

As in the yesteryear, nowadays the new media put a batch of accent on the leisure life style and advertise new norms and criterions of behavior. Different images from tabloid imperativeness, magazines and telecasting, which represent young person, beauty and luxury, provoke new desires for the persons, remind them that there is ever room for self-reformation in all facets of their life and rule the perceptual experience of the organic structure ; advertisement, characteristic articles and advice columns in magazines and newspapers inquire them to presume duty for the manner they look.

Traditional values bit by bit go off and give more and more infinite for new 1s influenced by the spread outing market with relation to free clip and leisure activities.

Furthermore, publicizing helps in this possesses by making the impression that persons have to pursuit and follow a critical attitude towards organic structure, ego and life style ; do them emotionally vulnerable invariably reminding them about organic structure imperfectnesss which have no longer could be seen as normal. ( Ewen, 1976 ) Body care can non be seen as something new and typical for our age as it exists in traditional societies in the past but was frequently associated with subordination of 'higher ' religious degree. Furthermore, our age creates the connexion between dietetic control, exercising and the accomplishment of better desired consequence about sex ( Hepworth & A ; Featherstone, 1982 ) . As Angela McRobbie ( 1991 ) puts it, magazines and advertizements mostly define misss and adult females through their sexual attraction and muliebrity ; they encourage immature females to endeavor to accomplish `` the ultimate mentality '' through images, beauty tips ; advice on how to pull male childs, how to maintain their spouses or how to surprise them ; whilst male magazines` subjects are concentrated on leisure activities. Advertising campaigns` constructs of beauty merchandises and processs, plastic surgery, diet merchandises, revolve around the thought that adult females are expected to want acquiring rid of their bodily imperfectnesss, in order to be attractive and accordingly, happy. This, even presents, McRobbie argues, puts adult females into a low-level place to work forces and encourages patriarchal values and societal behavior.

Today 's universe looks like a changeless competition between persons. They compete for attending, publicities and possibilities be it professional, academic or personal. Peoples feel the impulse to give their best in all facets of their lives and to make so ; they need to better the manner they look, as visual aspect is what makes first feeling. However, the desire to affect others has turned into a desire to delight ourselves: we are critical about the manner we look and our self-esteem depends on whether we win to look every bit good as the theoretical accounts from the screens of the magazines.

As our ego perceptual experience is influenced by the demanding societal criterions, our ain perceptual experience of the universe depends on them. Persons become critical about others ' visual aspect, so we constantly strive for more and necessitate more in each societal and personal domain: as relationship spouses, friends, parents, employers. This, I argue, has mostly turned traditional societal values into consumers ' matrix, as goods and ultimate organic structure image are the factors for the appraisal, perceptual experience and apprehension of personal accomplishments and qualities. Possibly the universe has become more superficial now than earlier, as we pay more attending at objects and visual aspect and `` justice a book by its screen '' . These societal values might hold turned the organic structures into material objects, into goods to be assessed, bought and consumed. However, we still have the freedom to make up one's mind whether we want to populate up to such norms and values, and whether conform to consumers ' societal behavior.

No affair in what age we live and how profoundly we think about this, we can non characterize the organic structure merely as an object, and although sociology does non to the full explicate or understand all the cultural or societal procedures related to organic structure. We should see the fact that it is besides a societal merchandise, an outer bed which reflects but is besides reflected by our life style, behaviour, thought, interaction and determinations. The organic structure constructs the domain we are located in but the societal Fieldss find our organic structure visual aspect and presentation every bit good.

People` s self-esteem and therefore, relationships and attitude are mostly dependent on societal norms and values. This finds look through the ways in which persons maintain, frock and their organic structure, in order to stand for their individualism. We recognize and assess each other through out visual aspect. It is cardinal to want doing good feeling and be perceived positively, so it is natural to human behaviour to seek to maintain up to the norms, up to the values of the society and clip.

The societal values of modern-day western civilization are expressed by the stereotyped image of a `` good looking '' and sexually attractive organic structure. The beauty products` advertisement construct is that the better you look, the happier you will be, both with yourself and the universe. The more goods you have that you can use on your organic structure and the more expensive and voguish they are, the higher societal position you will hold, the better you will be perceived by others, the more chances for spouses, professional development and leisure you will hold. These societal values are clearly reflected by the stereotyped image of an attractive, popular, desired `` fashioned organic structure '' .