The Body, Discourses and Media Institutions
Medicalisation
Social Contexts
Under western ideals, the mind was considered superior and a separate entity from the body
Both, medicalisation as well as social factors result in something being considered "normal", thus marginalising all the other types
Medicalisation categorises everything, out of which one is considered normal, rest abnormal
Not originally authoritative on the body
With Industrial Revolution and rationalisation, dissection of the human body was more common, thus more information available about it
Power and Surveillance plays an important role in order to understand the dominance of medicalisation
The Panopticon (Foucault)
Surveillance and Knowledge: The person in power knows everything about you and is keeping an eye - holder of all information. While the person under surveillance does not know anything
Under this power structure, the person in power categorises and classifies the group under surveillance, which often results in one normal, deeming the rest abnormal
This classification results in dividing between normal and abnormal, and what would be considered different behaviour, is now put under a normal and abnormal - the abnormal having to be fixed or cured.
With regard to bodies, the normal body mightve been considered as the male body
Anybody who did not fit the "normal" body thus became subject of surveillance and control by medical professionals
Howerever, is it biological differences that make someone disabled ot is it social environments? stairs disable people in wheelchairs, not the paralysis
Socialisation: how to be acceptable memners of society
Sex and Gender Model
17th century: One sex model - women's bodies were considered as a less developed version of the male body - genitals folded inside them
Later: Two sex model emerged - male and female considered different entities
Masculinity and femininity was not types of behaviour but linked according to sex and expected of newborns when labelled a certain gender.
Thus, social meanings transforming biology
Repression and Civilisation
Repressing drives is what he thinks makes a civilized society possible; it enables an orderly and advanced world.
Socialisation starts with rationalisation (adhering to social rules) and then individualisation (reducing sharing etc)
Higher status or level of civilisation is achieved with concealment of regular bodily functions to conform to social rules and use instruments like the fork handkerchief etc
This includes women's embodiment - it is a taught social thing rather than a natural "feminine" behaviour
women’s lower social position produced bod- ily weakness, rather than being derived from it.
biological differences in strength were not ‘natural’ but ‘culturally encouraged, through breeding, diet, and exercise’
it is social inequalities in a male-dominated society which shape bodies and reinforce women’s dependency.
work can sometimes struggle to rep- resent embodied complexity because of its constant drift toward the social level for explanations.
Tribal stigma
There are also tribal stigma which come from being a member of a marginalized social group such as an ethnic or reli- gious minority
women still do not enjoy full equality: picture women in ways that make them look inferior to, and possessed by, masterful and authoritative men.
Experiencing bodies
we feel think see according to our embodied position in the world - embodiment is fundamentally social
tehcniques of using the body are learnt, not natural. eg. accent, way of walking etc. It depends on habits and tastes typical to their class
Good taste is defined by upper middle class and higher class, whereas bad taste is associated with the lower classes
Bodies can be used as capital to acquire other capital and shift between class
Consumerism
Bodies are made marketable for which to meet needs, goods and services are purchased
Bodies are treated as an ongoing project - to display a healthy sexy in control self
Rise in obesity shows undisciplined nature of the body
consider how embodiment is felt, not just via sight, sound, smell and touch, but via emotions.
but individuals are made responsible for their bodies according to expert classifications of ‘normal’. Given that what is ‘normal’ has typically been defined in relation to the white, male, straight, able body, others have been disempowered by medicalization
Questions remain about whether society does ‘say no’ to bodies, or increasingly classifies them.
different embodied lives, not as ‘natural’ outcomes related to bio- logical ‘facts’, but as products of a social world which human beings have cre- ated. The advantages of recognizing the social shaping of bodies is that change can be both understood and enabled.