XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

893

Bodily Consumption, Taste and Power.

RC54 The Body in the Social Sciences (host committee)

Language: English

Drawing on theories of late modernity, ‘postmodern body culture’ formulations suggest that bodily appearances can be managed and reflexively engaged with. This notion is coupled with a dramatic increase in self-care regimes and the introduction of new concepts such as ‘appearance management’, which has undeniably changed the way we live and experience our bodies. However, there is also a growing literature in which the material and cultural limits to these open; fluid and reflexive embodiments are questioned. In particular, researchers who are inspired by Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and cultural capital argue that class privilege remains embodied and reproduced in the routine bodily practices of the everyday. It is in this context that this session interrogates the current status of the relationship between embodiment practices and class inequalities. It seeks to facilitate a discussion of the ways in which cultural capital and class position structure the bodily tastes and practices within the age of consumer culture. The embodiment practices we are interested in include, but are not limited to, those organised around food, clothing, exercise, and adornment. Empirical studies which recognise and reflect on the peculiarities of the national contexts in which these practices and classifications are embedded are particularly welcomed.