The Body Social

THE BODY SOCIAL The body is not only a biological phenomenon, it is also a social creation of immense complexity. It is not so much a ‘given’ as a social category, with different meanings, composed, imposed and developed in each age by each individual. The attributes, functions and specific organs of the body and the senses are likewise highly controversial. The Body Social explores the history of thinking about the body and the senses, paying special attention to shifts in ways of thinking about the body over time, and to the clash of different approaches to the body today. How people think and feel about their bodies influences how they live their lives and die their deaths. This study is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of how the body is conceptualized and lived. It avoids abstract discussion in favour of a down-to-earth approach to the body. The author examines particular parts of the body, including the face and hair, and particular body senses; touch, smell and sight. He also provides an up-todate and reliable survey of the literature. Written with real distinction, and displaying immense erudition The Body Social is destined to become essential reading for anyone studying the meaning of the body. Anthony Synnott is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University, Montreal. THE BODY SOCIAL Symbolism, Self and Society Anthony Synnott London and New York First published in 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © 1993 Anthony Synnott All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Synnott, Anthony, 1940– The body social/Anthony Synnott. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 275) and index. 1. Body, Human—Social aspects. I. Title. GN298.S94 1993 391´.6–dc20 92–40461 CI P ISBN 0-203-20154-X Master e-book IS BN ISBN 0-203-20157-4 (Adobe eReader Format) IS BN 0-415-06296-9 0-415-10359-2 (pbk) For John-Jaspar and Nicholas CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction ix 1 1 BODY 7 2 GENDER 38 3 BEAUTY AND THE FACE 73 4 HAIR 103 5 THE SENSES 128 6 TOUCH 156 7 SMELL 182 8 SIGHT 206 9 BODIES AND SENSES 228 Notes Bibliography Name index Subject index 265 275 296 302 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At last I can thank so many people who have helped me in so many ways—Gabriel Bar-Haim, Constance Classen, Elaine Comartin, Harvie Ferguson, Jacquie Gauntlett, Janusz Kaczorowski, Sarah O’Brien-Twohig and Michael Sullivan. Concordia has been very good to me in providing institutional support, and I would like to thank especially Charles Bertrand, Gail Valaskakis and Pieter de Vries, and also my students over the years in my courses on the body, whom I have very much enjoyed working with. Thanks also to Sharon Byer and Carole Robertson who did the typing and retyping, seemingly for ever, with such care and cheerfulness. I would also like to thank the Social Science and Humanities Research Council