Sociology 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Body Modification, Ageism, Social Death
Document Summary
The body is one of the first sites of social signifiers. We make assumptions about others on the basis of their bodies. We"ll all experience changes to our bodies and thus changes in how we are perceived. Sociologists are interested in how the human body is marked so it can be socially regulated. Analyze bodies as social products, entities that bear the imprint of society. Embodiment: refers to the physical and mental experience of existence. We often ignore what it means for people to inhabit bodies that are ill, aged, or disabled. Sociologists explore the possibilities that exist for shaping bodies that would have been science fiction just a few decades ago. Cyborg: an entity that embodies elements both living and dead, human and machine, natural and unnatural human and machine, natural and unnatural. The body and social status: a feminist interpretation. The body, disabilities, aging, and death mean different things and have different consequences for different societies.