SOC 2070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Human Body Weight, Laser Hair Removal, Body Modification
18 Mar 2013
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Document Summary
Looking deviant: physical appearance (bereska ch 6 pg. We live in a culture where physical appearance is important. Our appearance is important to use in part because we wish to express ourselves and paint a picture of who we are. Our appearance is also important because we know people judge us by how we look. Physical appearance is the stimulus for the social typing we do every day, and to which we are subject every day. Which forms of voluntary physical appearance are considered deviant depends on the sociohistorical context. Some forms of physical appearance combine voluntary and involuntary aspects e. g. body weight - people who choose how much to eat and how much physical activity to participate in as well as biological and physiological factors. What is considered voluntary or not varies across cultures and over time. Various body projects may change the functioning of our bodies (contact lenses) or modify the appearance of our bodies (weight loss)
