The Body and Sociology – empirical research and theoretical concepts
The Body and Sociology – empirical research and theoretical concepts
Contributor(s): Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek (Editor)
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Sociology, Social Theory
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; the human body
Summary/Abstract: The book presents issues of the sociology of the body in relation to various spheres of social life in which processes, values, norms and other social phenomena influence the human body. The book presents the assumptions and most important classical and contemporary sociological theories in relation to the human body. It contains twelve chapters covering various substantive areas of the sociology of the body such as work, sport, beauty, media, gender, sexuality, food and eating, medicine, disease and disability, time and religion. Each chapter presents: the most important theoretical concepts relating to the discussed topic, the achievements of scholars in particular area of the sociology of the body, the most important studies, including classic ones and key concepts. "The Body and Sociology – empirical research and theoretical concepts" is a book addressed to sociologists of various specialties who want to expand their knowledge of the sociology of the body or supplement information on the role of corporeality in such areas as sports, work, religion or media. It was prepared by specialists in the field as part of the work of The Sociology of the Body Section of the Polish Sociological Association.
Series: Uniwersytet Łódzki
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-8331-953-7
- Page Count: 382
- Publication Year: 2026
- Language: English
The Body and Sociology
The Body and Sociology
(The Body and Sociology)
- Author(s):Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:7-30
- No. of Pages:24
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; the human body
- Summary/Abstract:The chapter introduces the reader to the topic of sociology of the body in the Polish context, taking into account various theoretical and methodological perspectives. It presents the topics of the chapters contained in the subsequent parts of the book, and also presents the achievements of researchers and scholars whose work had the greatest influence on the development of sociological reflection on the human body, as well as on the creation of the subdiscipline of sociology of the body. They include Descartes, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Norbert Elias, Erving Goffman, Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman, as well as representatives of other sciences: Marcel Mauss, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Helmut Plessner, Mary Douglas, Naomi Wolf, Richard Shusterman, and feminist researchers. The chapter also presents contemporary concepts within the sociology of the body and the achievements of researchers in both global and Polish sociology.
The Body and Work
The Body and Work
(The Body and Work)
- Author(s):Dominika Byczkowska-Owczarek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:31-61
- No. of Pages:31
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; work, workplace studies; OHS; profession
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter tackles the issue of relations between the bodies of individuals and the social situation of work. Posts, employment conditions, workplaces and professional identities are gaining significance in contemporary societies, in relation to the transformations of the last decades in particular. Thus, it is worth paying attention to the fact that employees are embodied social actors. Their health and safety depend on the activities in the workplace in terms of individual, macrosocial, or even global dimensions. In the first part of the chapter, the presented issues relate to the human body in a social situation of work. The relation between the body and the work in sociology is discussed, including the studies of the industrial era, which were conducted by, i.a., Karl Marx or Max Weber, and the achievements of the studies on workplace relations. The way in which the issue of the body in the context of work was taken up by the classic sociological authors is also presented. The further parts of this chapter explore some of the more specific notions and key concepts concerning the relations of the body and the work in sociological theories and research. The chapter also tackles the issues related to sex work, reproductive work, emotional work, or the constructivist nature of OHS regulations. The issue of work in the professions dealing with the body work is also raised, e.g. hairdressers, fitness instructors, dentists, care assistants, doctors, nurses, cleaners or therapists.
The Body and Sport
The Body and Sport
(The Body and Sport)
- Author(s):Honorata Jakubowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Theory, Sociology of Culture
- Page Range:63-84
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; sport; gender; embodiment
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter introduces various points of view on the body and embodiment, which are present in the sociological analyses of sport. In the first part of the chapter, the accomplishments of classical sociologists whose ideas are applied within the sociology of sport are discussed. The focus is placed on three authors: Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Norbert Elias. In the case of M. Foucault, the notions of discipline, control and subjection (assujetissement) of the body, the docile body and discourse are examined. In the case of P. Bourdieu, the focus is placed on the notion of habitus and, to a lesser degree, on taste, whereas in the case of N. Elias, on emotions and controlling the body. The phenomenological approach of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the notion of body techniques coined by Marcel Mauss are also mentioned in this part. In the next part of the chapter, key notions concerning the body in the sociology of sport are introduced, such as cyborgisation, (body) empowerment, hyperandrogenism, naturalness, supercrip, embodiment and embodied knowledge. Then, four areas of research concerning the sporting (gendered) body are presented: (1) research concerning gender differences in the movements of girls and boys; (2) research on acquiring the boxing habitus; (3) research focused on experiencing the body in sport from the phenomenological perspective; and (4) research on the images of a sporting body in the media. The chapter ends with a conclusion arguing the significance of sport as a research area to the development of the sociology of the body and with verifying questions.
The Body and Beauty
The Body and Beauty
(The Body and Beauty)
- Author(s):Mariola Bieńko
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:85-119
- No. of Pages:35
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; normative beauty; gender; plastic surgery
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter is an attempt to reflect on the invasive beautifying body practices in contemporary consumer culture. The issues raised in this chapter relate to several problem areas. The first one concerns physical attractiveness as an individual and socio-cultural project in the private and public space. The control over one’s body image is linked to a symbolic representation of one’s identity, which is more and more often becoming a matter of choice. Body management is related to a tendency to auto-create and “„create oneself” as well as to the re-evaluation of beauty as a social value. The second problem area is focused on the procedures of aesthetic surgery, which are interpreted in the mass culture as a necessity due to the compulsion to have a beautiful body and the phenomenon of old-age “„disgrace”. The plastic surgery culture (“„nip and tuck”) is a consequence of the consumer logic of late capitalism and the neoliberal conception of social life. The theoretical approaches presented in this chapter as well as the results of studies indicate to what degree carrying out the project of an “„improved”, “„beautiful” human having specified physical parameters is an expression of control and oppression, and to what degree it is an expression of one’s individualism and emancipation. The text explains the differences between cosmetology, aesthetic medicine, aesthetic, plastic and reconstructive surgery; the descriptions of the categories of body dysmorphic disorder, aesthetic work, cosmetic gaze as well as the phenomena of body shaming, body policy, body neutrality/body positivity, etc. are also offered.
The Body and Media
The Body and Media
(The Body and Media)
- Author(s):Sylwia Breczko
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Media studies, Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:121-149
- No. of Pages:29
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; sociology of media; media and society; social media; body image
- Summary/Abstract:Sociology is interested in the media messages concerning the body, assuming that media are one of the basic institutions of socialization through which we learn social norms about the body. The media allows us to go beyond the narrow family circle and local community, confronting us with the global culture and social expectations, which are also very often conditioned by gender. Social ideals about the desired shape have a profound impact, in particular on the generation of young women. This chapter presents key sociological notions, which may be employed to analyse the influence of media on the experience of embodiment. Concepts such as the individualisation of body, consumer culture, symbolic violence and body capital are introduced and the theories of, i.a., Jean Baudrillard, Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, and Erving Goffman are discussed. In the research section, the focus is placed on the issues of representativeness of media images and body (self-)surveillance in social media. We analyse the symbolic annihilation occurring in the media and present research concerning how the media under-representation of certain social groups (e.g. the disabled, the sexually non-normative) may result in a falsified worldview. Attention is also paid to the prevalent fat phobia and fat shaming, which influence the body image and the self-esteem of the group that is the most susceptible to media messages, i.e. children and teenagers. The chapter ends with the reconstruction of building bodily self-knowledge on the example of the Polish media during the transformation period.
The Body and Gender
The Body and Gender
(The Body and Gender)
- Author(s):Krystyna Dzwonkowska-Godula, Emilia Garncarek, Julita Czernecka
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:151-191
- No. of Pages:41
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; sociology of gender; sex; gender; appearance
- Summary/Abstract:The authors of this chapter pursue an issue of the body and embodiment from the gender perspective. In this paper, they assume that the body is perceived and functions socially as a gendered body, containing a cultural content of gender. Referring to various concepts applied in the sociology of gender, they demonstrate what a gendered body is and how it reveals itself; what it means for an individual and what its social meaning is.In the first part of the chapter, the issues of body and gender are introduced from the gender perspective; the transformations of gender are also discussed. Further, the authors tackle the issue of a gendered body’s meaning in the context of one’s gender identity, one’s social roles, gendered division of labour as well as gender relations and inequality. They also draw attention to the issue of intersectionality in embodiment and the body as an aesthetic capital of individuals. The subsections of this chapter offer definitions of the key notions relating to the body and embodiment from the perspective of the sociology of gender. The chapter concludes with verifying questions and a list of publications, the reading of which will allow the readers to broaden their knowledge on the discussed topic.
The Body and Sexuality
The Body and Sexuality
(The Body and Sexuality)
- Author(s):Magdalena Wojciechowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:193-224
- No. of Pages:32
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; sex and sexuality; sexual practices; experiencing the body
- Summary/Abstract:In this chapter, I offer an insight into the issue of human sexuality within the context of the body and embodiment, drawing on classical literature in the area and more recent field studies. I aim to highlight diverse analytical avenues of problematizing and analyzing how people make sense of, experience, and navigate within the sexual sphere of their lives. I also elucidate how the issues at hand are embraced from the sociological point of view, especially concerning the sociology of the body. In the first section, I draw on ‘classical’ sociological works undertaking the issue of sexuality to offer a theoretical framework for the sociological conceptualization of human sexuality as the research subject. Also, I offer insights into queer theory and symbolic interactionist approaches to human sexuality. In the next section, I present concepts and phenomena most commonly encountered in the literature concerning human sexuality. In the subsequent section, I discuss research studies undertaking specific areas of human lived experience within sexuality. I aim to highlight approaches to conceptualizing diverse substantial areas of human sexuality and (embodied) experiences therein. For that, instead of focusing on specific research subjects, I elucidate analytical frameworks and concepts that guided the argument. To meet that end, I discuss how internalized social norms and values have an impact on human endeavors; how meaning-making is a context-dependent process; how ‘deviance’ is socially constructed; how gendered dominance leads to conflictive interactions and makes violence against the superordinate incomprehensible; and how the way of communicating has an impact on sexual socialization.
The Body, Food and Eating
The Body, Food and Eating
(The Body, Food and Eating)
- Author(s):Agnieszka Maj, Anna Wójtewicz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:225-257
- No. of Pages:33
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; food and eating; social functions of eating; consumer society; social inequalities
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate selected links between socio-cultural construction of the body and the food understood as practice resulting from the biological need, and simultaneously, entangled in cultural terms. Consuming food and drinking are socially regulated. Society influences the form of food, its kind and amount as well as rituals related to food consumption. The regulations translate into such body qualities as body size, desired body shape, or weight. The related social expectations change depending on the epoch and culture. This chapter describes classic works of authors exploring food and eating as a cultural activity. Some of them may be considered an achievement of both cultural anthropology and sociology. The text offers an explanation as to why the issues relating to the body and food were absent for so long in sociology. New directions in the reflection on these areas are also indicated, necessarily focusing solely on selected issues. The discussion includes such subject areas as, inter alia, the body, food and eating, and social inequalities (including gender-based), referring to the works of such authors as Norbert Elias, Pierre Bourdieu or Chris Shilling. Moreover, the contents of this chapter refer the reader to the descriptions and analyses of issues that frequently affect in a direct manner people living in contemporary society. In particular, we would like to indicate the issue of dietary regimens and the necessity to function in the so-called diet culture, in which how we look, what we eat and what exercises we perform are treated as a display of moral virtues. At the end of the chapter, areas of research related to the body and food in contemporary sociology are indicated and the most important concepts are listed that may be helpful in further study of the body and food.
The Body and Medicine
The Body and Medicine
(The Body and Medicine)
- Author(s):Magdalena Wieczorkowska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory, Health and medicine and law
- Page Range:259-290
- No. of Pages:32
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; medicalization; repair; enhancement
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate how medical knowledge influences the perception of the body, its meaning and its transformations. The presented theories are discussed in chronological order: first, the humours theory; next, the medieval model, which involves treating disease as a punishment for sins and enforcing body regimes; and then, modern medicine and the biomedical model of health and disease. The contemporary processes that place the body in medical shackles conclude in the medicalisation processes, which continue to spread to an increasing number of areas connected to human life and body, making it a subject of medical intervention and control. Other theories are concerned with curative medicine, preventive medicine, and medicine aiming at fulfilling wishes, as well as their influence on the social construction of the body. There is also a comparison of the assumptions underlying modern medicine and alternative medicine in the context of the perception and treatment of the human body. The relationship between the body and medicine does not end with one’s death as a human may become an organ donor after his or her death or may leave instructions regarding the use of his or her body after death. The achievements of medicine also modify the near-future perception of the body, posing questions about the limits of interventions, boundaries between fixing the body and improving the body, and, thus, the limits of humanity itself. This is the focal point of the final discussed theory, which introduces the context of cyborgisation. The second part of the chapter offers selected key notions and their synthetic description. The third part of the chapter presents a concise description of studies on medicalisation, geneticisation, donation, and transplantation.
The Body, Illness and Partial Disability
The Body, Illness and Partial Disability
(The Body, Illness and Partial Disability)
- Author(s):Katarzyna Kowal, Michał Skrzypek
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:291-324
- No. of Pages:34
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; phenomenology of the body; sociology of disease; sociology of the illness experience
- Summary/Abstract:The chapter offers the sociological perspective on chronic diseases and disability, and focuses attention on the effort related to identity forming. M. Merleau-Ponty initiates the reflection on this issue by describing the perceived possession of a non-existent limb (phantom limb syndrome). D. Leder notes that a dysfunction of the body causes the body to enter the stream of consciousness; it becomes an experienced phenomenon and leaves the “„corporal” background. Including the biological dimension of the body in socio-medical research is postulated by S. Timmermans and S. Haas, who propose the sociology of particular chronic diseases defined on the basis of their clinical criteria. A complete picture of the identity-related consequences of chronic diseases and disability is offered in the works of K. Charmaz. Furthermore, the reflection presented by Anselm Strauss et al. emphasises the value of the interactive dimension of the body; the body is a non-negotiable condition for taking actions and engaging in interactions. The discussed theories emerge from qualitative studies conducted in groups of chronically ill persons. K. Charmaz argues that these persons report on their suffering using “„the language of loss”, which refers to the aspects of the <self> that were modified due to bodily changes. K. Yoshida describes the effort related to one’s personal identity that is made by persons with spinal cord injury. In his research involving people after proctocolectomy, M. Kelly documented the bodily roots of social interactions. The sociological analyses of the identity-related issues initiated by bodily changes supplement the biomedical perspective on disease and incomplete agency, providing knowledge regarding the processes occurring in one’s psycho-social sphere.
The Body and Time
The Body and Time
(The Body and Time)
- Author(s):Monika Dorota Adamczyk
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:325-352
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; sociology of time; socio-cultural relations; social change
- Summary/Abstract:Body and time are frequently used notions. We understand them intuitively, like „“a wrinkle or a page of the calendar”, and we are convinced that there is nothing new that can be said in this regard. This chapter offers a different, new perspective, situating these two phenomena on evident and less evident planes. The considerations presented in this chapter guide a reader through thematical areas, explaining mutual connections between the body and the time in the context of social processes and phenomena such asthe development of the consumer culture and the accompanying “„cult of a young body”, the ageing of the global population, and the development of science and technology. Sections of this chapter are devoted to the description of the most relevant theories depicting both conceptual categories as well as the most significant issues related to their understanding. The concepts of quantitative time, qualitative time, sequencing of events or social time are illustrated with examples relating them to the concept of the body. Such a procedure not only familiarises the reader with the meaning of particular concepts but also indicates permanent mutual connections between these two conceptual categories on an individual and social level.
The Body and Religion
The Body and Religion
(The Body and Religion)
- Author(s):Malwina Krajewska
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social Theory
- Page Range:353-376
- No. of Pages:24
- Keywords:sociology of the body; sociology in Poland; body and religion; asceticism; meditation; diet; rituals
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter is devoted to the relations and dependencies occurring between the human body and various forms of religious life. The discussion considers their normative, theoretical and practical aspects. First, the investigated issues refer to the historical perspective, the starting point of which encompasses contradictory—medieval and renaissance—ways of viewing corporeality in Christian Europe. The narrations that follow are concerned with the ways in which the human body is viewed throughout world religions: Islam, in which the approach propagating care and attention to the body is common; Hinduism, in which the body is a home for the soul, only a temporary manifestation entangled in the cycle of rebirth; Buddhism, for which the body is a tool to overcome suffering and to achieve the state of unconditioned happiness – enlightenment. The chapter is also devoted to the methods and techniques of using the body, which are practised by various world religions. Bodily regimens are discussed, which are supposed to control human urges, facilitate maintaining social order and raise productivity. Apart from the interpretations of human corporeality and the methods of using it, the chapter devotes significant attention to its role in ceremonies and rituals. A crucial multi-faceted symbolic dimension referring to the bodies of the seculars and saints as well as the deceased and the relics is also discussed. In addition to numerous examples of interpreting, shaping and engaging in religious practices, a reader will also find here many examples of theoretical narrations authored by classical and contemporary sociologists and anthropologists.
