11. THE BODY AS A SOCIAL ENTITY

Question 1

1. What is our body a product of?

Answer 1

• social factors

Question 2

2. What is our body shown in accordance with?

Answer 2

• cultural values
• social roles we perform

Question 3

3. What did Giddens explain in 1991?

Answer 3

• the period in which we now live:
  - is one which has witnessed a decline in certainties
  - the social structures and frameworks which have given us a
  clear world view have been lost
  - this has led to a loss of self identity

Question 4

4. What are the social structures and frameworks that we have lost?

Answer 4

• community
• religion
• family

Question 5

5. What has been a consequence of the loss of social structures and frameworks?

Answer 5

• people now look at and within themselves
• they do this to find a source of identity and meaning
• people rely on their bodies to find meaning

Question 6

6. What development has allowed us greater possibilities to control and shape our bodies in new ways?

Answer 6

• developments in science and technology:
  - plastic surgery
  - sports science
  - fashion industry

Question 7

7. Where are cultural values produced and enhanced?

Answer 7

• they are produced and enhanced in:
  - social institutions
  - media
  - the press
  - family
  - education
  - sciences

Question 8

8. What happens when more and more people adopt specific values?

Answer 8

• they become more important
• they start to become more influential
• they are values that become encouraged to adopt

Question 9

9. What does Embodiment refer to?

Answer 9

• it refers to the process of embodying or internalising cultural values

Question 10

10. What happens when individuals embody cultural values?

Answer 10

• they consider these cultural values as their own
• these cultural values become a way of thinking

Question 11

11. What does the term the “Body Project” refer to?

Answer 11

• it refers to the process of turning the cultural values into a body image
• people understand the body as something that is unfinished
• something that has to be worked upon
• (set goals and deadlines to achieve them by)

Question 12

12. Why do people re-make their body?

Answer 12

• they do this to construct their new selves
• people feel that re-making their body will make them more likely to be socially accepted

Question 13

13. What does Contemporary Consumer Culture provide us with?

Answer 13

• it provides us with the products needed to achieve this desired state
• this desired state is individualised
• individuals are transformed in accordance to the embodied values

Question 14

14. What are four examples of Contemporary Consumer Culture?

Answer 14

• diet
• plastic surgery
• sports science
• fashion industry

Question 15

15. Provide the labels for number 1-5.

Answer 15

1. Cultural Values
2. Individuals
3. Internalised Values
4. Body Project
5. Transformed Individuals

Question 16

16. What cultural values have influenced Andrea’s way thinking?

Answer 16

• Andrea lives in a society that highly values the thin female body
• this value is socially considered very important
• people find meaning and feel accepted when they adopt it
• there are various social methods that help people achieve this type of body
• this methods are propagated and encouraged

Question 17

17. Has Andrea experienced Embodiment?
    In which ways has she experienced this?

Answer 17

• Andrea has embodied and internalised these values
• her way of thinking has been shaped in accordance to these values
• she understands these values as her own
• she no longer sees these values as values that are constructed by the society in which she lives

Question 18

18. Has Andrea understood her body as a “project”?
    In which ways?

Answer 18

• she understands her body as a project which is unfinished
• this leads to her setting goals
  (EG: to lose 10kg and to look pretty)
• she then works strenuously at achieving her goals
• she wishes to complete her body project
• Andrea is an example of a girl who is at risk of developing Anorexia

Question 19

19. What is Anorexia caused by?

Answer 19

• it is the ideal female body image that was created in the West
• it has been constructed on the ideals of a thin body
• social institutions advertise it as desirable:
  - media
  - advertisements
  - health
  - romantic relationships
• this image of a thin body is embodied by people
• the individual takes action to achieve this embodied image

Question 20

20. Why are adolescent girls more vulnerable to falling victims to Anorexia?

Answer 20

• this social message is targeted at females
• these girls have not yet constructed their social identity
• they are easily influenced
• they see the thin body as a means to construct their social identity

Question 21

21. Read through this summary.
    Does everything make sense?

Answer 21

• yes