Sociology 2259 Chapter Notes - Chapter online: Polysemy, System On A Chip, Signify
30 Apr 2018
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Tattooing and Civilizing Processes: Body Modification as Self-Control:
• NA exp second tattoo renaissance- part revolutions in pop cult sig tattooed flesh,
tattooing ascending unprecedented levels pop among vast array social groups
• Once long-standing symbol underclass, body project now floating signifier full panorama
social statuses, roles and identities- tattoo polysemic symbol CN cult and actively
inserted into ident politics melange of actors
• Socs and other academics almost invariably describe tattooing cult deviance- mentally
challenged, gang members and deviant youth subcults rep tattoo badge dislocated,
ostracized and disenfranchised coms
• Few portray tattooing as rational/ pro-social (unless examine other cult)
• Even comprehensive hist/ ethnographic analyses practice selectively link tattooed bodies
to stigmatized pops
• Tattooing decoded esoterically norm within boundaries hist marginal groups, as profanity
well represents group members’ feelings of difference and exclusion- deviant collective
solution sentiments social inferiority
• Majority empirical analyses tattooing fail consider how body project symbolizes
conformity to prevailing cult body idiom/ expectations of affective control upheld
throughout Western nations
• Even fewer juxtapose booming pop tattooing against cult prescriptions to engage in style
body work underpinned by impetus to display one’s “individualism” to others
• Ignore part of est middle-class body ascetic/ vibrant physicality
• Tattooing projects inspected acts of compliance to “est” codes bodily control and display-
self-expressed meanings CN’s tattooing projects smack w compliance to diffuse cult
imperative to engage in disciplined body work- contemp sensibilities about tattooed skin
interp extension long-term civilizing process
Theoretical underpinnings:
• Typically contend tattooed body manifestation mind fraught w disorder and wearers
cannot conform to dom social norms, values and beliefs as result dev/ cog defect
• Tattooing predicts more serious deviance- cannot contain other “primitive”/ contra-norm
impulses
• Tattooing rel youth impetuousness and irrationality- indicates immaturity among “at-risk-
youth” and correlated w other forms self-harm such as physical agg, promiscuity,
substance abuse and suicide
• Prefer physical expression over cog/ verbal and dem feelings social inferiority through
unhygienic and physically dangerous patterns action- vol inflict pain on one’s body and
mar skin w everlasting symbols impurity overtly antisocial
• Tattooing as contextual and negotiated signifier of ident, soc statements on cult use
tattoos in NA ultimately (re)produce conceptualization practice as contra-norm
• Symbiotic relationship b/w tattooing and illegal behav (or otherwise unconv lifestyles)
still dom soc research- prefer study subversive subcult uses tattooing among groups such
as prisoners and youth gangs
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• Examinations everyday life in tattoo studios equally “verify” disreputable nature of NA
tattooing cults- purposefully embraces and promulgates images otherness
• Homology deviant style- set complementary group practices coalescing around shared set
outsider ideologies, activities and representational prefs
• Non-mainstream forms body mod foster cult bonds, few examine tattoos pro-social
markers- nature tattooing rarely considered, b/c both pathology act and actor assumed
Method:
• Data from 3 year, participant observation based study tattoo enthusiasm in CN- “hung
out” w tattoo artists and clients in Calgary and Toronto- spending leisure time w tattoo
enthusiasts, initial insights into complex motivations for and meaning structures
attributed tattoo projects developed
• Open-ended active interviews in variety settings about exp w tattooing, including,
whether viewed tattooing deviant, dif, rebellious/ risk-taking- interviews narrative
explorations how people decide become tattooed, exp tattooing and rely upon series
“interpretive resources” when telling stories about their tattoos
• Academic constructions tattoos sparked concern and frustration among enthusiast b/c feel
academics grossly misinterp cult relevance of tattoos in NA
• How people assign social meaning to tattoos and how motivations for, experiences w and
constructions of tattooing intersubjectively def
Tattooing and the “civilized” habitus:
• Tattooing routinely undertaken as rational form ident exp and conservative gesture of
conformity to dom norms of self-restraint
• Tattooed body both marker social position in CN and symbol civilized individuality
• Don’t look at complex relation b/w tattoo’s status as both, overlook how tattooing
processes may jibe w and homologically fit into “est” cult ideas about comm self
through avant-garde and individualistic body work
• Few interpret how one’s sense individualism product of cult membership and position-
divorcing tattooed body from larger cult contexts within which situated and def obscures
how pervasive body habits may infl personal prefs for tattooing
• Figurational socs argue body projects like tattooing cannot be understood outside
figurations within which produced
• Figuration- complex matrix social relationships based on far-ranging individ and group
interdep that interconnect fam, school, workplace, leisure, religious and political spheres
• Through social interaction processes within figurations, common cult ways thinking/
habituses are formed- habitus internalized through socialization processes and becomes
socially learned second nature of behav
• Attending enthusiasts’ tattooing narratives realize how practice learned cult habit that is
dialogical w and not irreverent to, diffuse body norms within a figuration
• Modifying body as norm act learned through and reinforced by one’s interdependencies
w others- examine conds social interdep giving rise tattooing habits and charact broader
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
