This challenging volume reasserts the centrality of the body within social theory as a means to understanding the complex interrelations between nature, culture and society. At a theoretical level, the volume explores the origins of a social theory of the body in sources ranging from the work of Nietzsche to contemporary feminist theory. The importance of a theoretical understanding of the body to social and cultural analysis of contemporary societies is demonstrated through specific case studies. These range from the expression of the emotions, romantic love, dietary practice, consumer culture, fitness and beauty, to media images of women and sexuality.
Preface - Mike Featherstone, Mike Hepworth and Bryan S Turner Recent Developments in the Theory of the Body - Bryan S Turner Bringing Bodies Back In - Arthur Frank On Human Beings and Their Emotions - Norbert Elias a Process-Sociological Essay On the Civilizing of Appetite - Stephen Mennell The Discourse of Diet - Bryan S Turner The Body in Consumer Culture - Mike Featherstone The Midlifestyle of George and Lynne - Mike Featherstone and Mike Hepworth Martial Arts as a Resource for Liberal Education - Donald N Levine The Case of Aikido Bio-politics and Social Policy - Martin Hewitt Foucaults Account of Welfare Genealogy and The Body - Scott Lash Foucault/Deleuze/Nietzsche The Art of The Body in The Discourse of Postmodernity - Roy Boyne Loves Labour Lost? A Sociological View - Margareta Bertilsson Biographical Boundaries - Graham McCann Sociology and Marilyn Monroe Carmen - or The Invention of a New Feminine Myth - Dick Pels and Aya Crebas The Mask of Ageing - Mike Featherstone and Mike Hepworth Sociological Discourse and The Body - J M Berthelot