Sociology of the body

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Sociology of the body is a branch of sociology studying the representations and social uses of the human body in modern societies.

[edit] Early Theories

According to Laqueur (1990) prior to the eighteenth century the predominant model for a social understanding of the body was the ‘one sex model\one flesh model’. This followed that there was one model of the body which differed between the sexes and races, for example, the vagina was simply seen as a weaker version of the penis and even thought to emit sperm.

This was changed by the enlightenment. In the Sixteenth Century Europe began to participate in the slave trade and therefore had to justify this. A large quantity of literature was produced showing the deviant sexuality and savagery of the African (Fanon, 1976). In the Eighteenth Century, the ideas of egalitarianism and universal and inalienable rights, were becoming the intellectual norm. However, they could not justify the subordination of Women within this theory.

To explain these the biology of incommensurability was created. This essentially claimed that different sexes and races were better adjusted for different tasks and could therefore show the necessity of discrimination and subordination.

This was also combined with the technological developments which were taking place, leading to people seeing the body as a machine.