Body as a form of capital

Body as a melodic phrase of ceilingBaudrillard writes that apricot is such an imperious imperative because its a realise of capital (1998 132). analyze the role of the proboscis as a form of capital (addressing the specialised practices and implications) with reference to peerless destinyicular form of remains work (e.g. an occupation, a consumer practice e.t.c).This essay would focus on the personate form of a systembuilder as a form of capital. Bodybuilding world a form of capital is said to add value to an individuals em physical structure. This value could be economic, amicable, cultural and symbolic (Bourdieu 1986). Physical capital is most usually converted into economic capital (m one and only(a)y, goods, services), cultural for example education and social capital (social ne twainrks which modify reciprocal calls to be made on the goods and services of its members) (Bourdieu 1978, 1984, 1986) in dock 2003, p. 111.Our conception of beauty is squ are upd by t he media. Bourdieus analysis of the bole involves an scrutiny of the multiple way of getings in which the clay has capture commodified in innovative societies in cozen 2003, p. 111. This is wherefore Bourdieus theory of social reproduction would be used intensively to explain why Baudrillard wrote that beauty is such an absolute imperative because its a form of capital (1998 132). This would be done in parity to Bourdieus physical capital to the body. It was state by Bourdieu that This refers not whole to the bodys implication in the buying and selling of push provide tho to the methods by which the body has puzzle a much than(prenominal) comprehensive form of body capital a possessor of power, status, distinctive symbolic forms. (In bobfloat 2003, p. 111). So in relation to muscle-builder the practices of the bodybuilder would be interpreted into account, e.g medicine victorious to enhance the muscles and the implications of such behavior.Beauty is an absolut e necessary in our monastic order it allows for individuals to feel really confident with themselves and hopefully in their endeavors to be able action triumph, as in our period purlieu greater emphasis is set(p) on peoples physical appearances. This could make a huge difference between failure and success. This aspect preserve be touch baseed to Marchands parable of the runner impression, which states first impressions brought about immediate success or failure the reason one man amassed a forward motion or one woman suffered a social snub had be recognize less explicable grounds of long-standing favoritism or family feuds (1985, p. 217). This could be related to muscle building as if one is not muscular enough they mogul not enter for a orient or competition. This idea of presenting ones egotism in an acceptable manner in a bodybuilding empyrean of club would wee-wee made individuals feel good and helped increase their ego-importance esteem amongst their peers thus ensuring happiness this could hence be bonded to the social capital as they would gain increased connections. The implication and practices of being a bodybuilder would most probably be the idea that they are attempt to make themselves feel confident in the body they are in. The rarefied of emotional state confident could be said to be on a individualised level, on an economic level for these bodybuilders, they would be able substantiate money, earn a supporting for what they do. And on a social capital level, they would be able to earn a status amongst their peers because according to Klein attribute is e very(prenominal)thing (1993, p. 3) and that the cultures of competitive bodybuilders are not simply to be champions but to become Mr. Olympias and Mr. Universe (Ibid, p. 3). This could too link to the symbolic capital.Contributors to the recently established sociology of the body (e.g. Nettleton and Watson 1998, shilling 1993) reference Giddens (1991) when contextua lizing a burgeoning social scientific interest in bodily matter. According to Giddens, contemporary society (what he terms elevated or late flairrnity) is a post traditional order where the ego, similar the broader institutional context in which it exists, has to be reflexively made (1991 3) in Monaghan 1993, p. 4. So in relation to the body builders it could be suggested to what Monaghan calls striving to create the meliorate body (1999a in Monaghan 1999, p. 708). So in the case of the bodybuilders, they practice development body sweetener medication so that they could work and reach that potential. This give the sack be illustrated again by Monaghan bodybuilding, a project like body process (Bloor et al 1998) adopted by the denizens of the late sophisticatedity, represents one choice (among m either) for sustaining a coherent narrative of self (Giddens 1991). It dirty dog be argued that in a post traditional world there is confusion, as science has interpreted over tradi tional authority, so it can be argued that bodybuilders take risks. It was state by Monaghan that bodybuilders who are steroid users, are engaging in chemical, not just social constructions (Bloor et al 1998 41) hence the beneficial possibilities of science and engineering science become double edged, creating new parameters for risk (1999, p. 726).Advertising is said to have given rise to why so much importance is displace on the human body. It has always proposed the idea that it can fix any imperfection of the body and that such solutions are available to anyone who is ready. This can be related to Marchands Democracy of goods. Maguire Stanway stated images of ideal bodies seem to be very all important(predicate) in contemporary society (2008 1). This is why Liess et al 1997 7 argued that advertisement is one of the great vehicles of social communication and Williams 1961 1993321 stated that advertising is an institutionalized arranging of commercial information and persu asion. This may be why it was suggested by Hitzler 1988 that the individual has to recognize and acknowledge the body and self as flawed, inadequate or at least incomplete, and identifying areas for transformation and the appropriate tools, practices and experts to make that work. The self, in otherwise words, becomes a do-it-yourself project (in Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002 3). Consequently, the advertizing dodge dictates to society what the body should calculate like. The implication of a bodybuilder, it is the idea of the drug taking. They do not think back of the negative consequences that these drugs would have overall on their wellbeing. That is why Giddens argues that the conditions of late modernity have important implication for mental processes as well as the body. The reflexivity of the self extends to the body, where the body is part of an action system rather than merely a passive determination (Giddens 1991 77) For him the body is reflexively mobilised, availab le to be worked upon by the influences of high modernity (1991 218) in Monaghan 1993, p. 5.The advertising system necessitys conforming/passive individuals so as to achieve their goals. They look for the weaknesses that individuals dread on and use that to their advantage, and those who conform not would most probably not achieve their potential goals. The advertising system makes it a norm that peoples body is meant to look a certain way, and if you dont look that way that which the system proposes, and then the individual would be picked on.With advertising practices eer being portrayed to the semipublic and the increasing idea given to the public that they can fix whatever faults they have on their body. The much presumable individuals are exposed to these ideas, the more they are to succumb to this culture of paying so much attention on their body. Consequently be looked on as being self obsessed. Laschs book called The culture of narcissism describes the major(ip) change s that occurred in the 1970s explained by Cashmore 2006 101, It describes the apotheosis of individualism, in which self concern feeling or conduct reached its highest state of development. After the turbulent mid-sixties in which people all over the world challenged and subverted traditional ideals, values, and norms Their uncontrollable efforts changed hearts and minds, but not the material facts. So, they retreated to purely personal pre-occupation, according to Lasch, getting in touch with their feeling, eating health food, taking lessons in ballet or belly dancing overcoming the fear of pleasure. (19804) and then advertising and marketing would constantly be producing the tools for reshaping appearances (Maguire Stanway 2008 PAGE). In the context of bodybuilding, these tools could be the use of drugs/steroids to make their muscles bigger. Bloor et al. 1998 Bodybuilding, perhaps more so than others athletic pursuit, is a socio-cultural environment which normalises the instr umental use (as opposed to abuse) of steroids and accessory drugs (Monaghan 1999, p. 707). Moreover, the implication of bodybuilders would continually change their body so as to continually fit with what the bodybuilding system and advertising has in trend as a put out up fit in society and feel a sense of belonging. This can be further illustrated by Arnold and Price who stated that the second mode of self-making is the authoritative performance in which feeling of community, acceptance and belonging annul from shared participation or shared rituals (2000 155 cited in Maguire Stanway 2008, p. 9). This could be related to the related to the symbolic and the economic capital. The symbolic capital in the sense that society accepts bodybuilders using drug so, when these individuals achieve that body, they would be more likely to get jobs so, it works in a two way advantage, they get the job they sine qua non (economic capital) and the bodybuilding industry get the labour that they pay for.In contemporary society, greater emphasis has being placed on the body as well as beauty and being beautiful as its seen as part of forming ones identity. This can be illustrated by Shilling (2003) who argued that there is tendency for the body to become increasingly telephone exchange to the modern persons sense of self-identity. People are starting to think more and be relate of how others view and perceive them. This could be said that their body is for other to gaze at it, an example could be given from Pumping iron out 2 The women, the scene at 3 minutes 07 seconds where they all had to show off their body, to an admiring audience who were all applauding. This could be related to the narcissistic self as Cashmore stated the narcissist aims on others to validate his self esteem, detect Lasch. He cannot live without an admiring audience for the narcissist, the world is a mirror (1980 10 in Cashmore 2006, p. 102). This could be said to a certain extent that these bo dybuilders engage society to approve of their body. They want their body to be adored. The act of thought of ones body on how people perceive them could be said to link to the other directed self. (WHICH LINKS TO PARABLE OF FIRST IMPRESSION (EWEN 1999, MARCHAND 1985) this could link to the body form of body builder in the sense that the first impression that one gets from them is that they are very strong. Woodward further stated that one only has to think of the rewards received by professional sports people across the world, to see how bodily performances can be exchanged for financial rewards. Nightclubs and discos frequently employ body-builders as bouncers, while prostitutes use their bodies to earn a living Woodward 1997 88. It can be argued that different classes treat their bodies otherwise, as Shilling stated according to Bourdieu that the working class tend to develop an instrumental relation to their body as they have bitty time free from necessity. The body is a me ans to an end 2003, p. 114. It was in any case argued that workers who use their bodies all day in heavy manual labor tend to have little time for what they see as pretension of jogging and health and fitness centres the working class are concerned to spend their efforts on weightlift and activities directed towards strength, both field in which manual dominance can be asserted (ibid 114). So in relation to the body form of a bodybuilder, according to Bourdieus theory, they would be classed as a working class, as they are only wanting to survive and strive through life with what their body can achieve for them financially. Whereas it can be said in relation to Bourdieus theory that the sovereign class differ such gratification, the dominant class, used their body for cultural, social capital etc this can be illustrated by Shilling who stated that dominant classes have the time and re mentions to treat the body as a project with variants according to whether the emphasis is plac ed on the intrinsic functioning of the body as an organism, which leads to the macrobiotic cult of health, or on the appearance as a perceptible configuration, the physique, i.e. the body for other (Bourdieu, 1978 838 1984 212- 13). The dominant class tend not to be overly concerned with producing a large, strong body, but with a slim body transgress suited to the world in which economic practice is constituted more strongly by the presentation of self (Wilkes, 1990 118) in Shilling, p. 114The body is also said to have possessed power and immunity in our current society whereas in previous society (Traditional Society) there were restrictions and people did not have the choice to do what they wanted. The personality rather than character has come to be much more important in contemporary society which was stated by Warren 1979 212-26 in Ewen 1999). Thus great power is placed on the individual, as a result, they are allowed to do what they want with that power, consequently, citize nship duty and work no longer seem to be important rather attractiveness, creativity and a fascinating personality is much more preferred in the society. As it was further argued by Shilling from Bourdieus shift that in traditional societies, power is exercised more directly by one embodied individual over another, whereas in contemporary society the modern body has a far more complex role in the exercise of power and the reproductions of social inequalities (2003). That power in relation to the bodybuilder is the possession of medicine. Monaghan stated Empirical data on perceptions of the medical profession, risk, and bodybuilders miscellaneous sources of ethno-scientific knowledge, suggest that medicine is simply one authority among many in the construction of the self and the body within late modernity(1999 707). This refers to the muscle enhancement drugs. Baudrillards point of view, he suggests that the body has today become an object of buyback (Baudrillard 1998). This furt her illustrates how the body is viewed in contemporary society and portrays the amount of freedom that individuals possess thus bodybuilder take pride in themselves and hero-worship their body as they believe it is the way they would be able to achieve their goals. This can be related to the culture of narcissism based on the individuals point of view as Cashmore stated that there are two dimensions of the culture of narcissism on one hand swatches of people remiss their collective endeavours and contented themselves with individual quests for satisfaction and happiness yet, on the other, they depend on each other for confirmation that they are looking and feeling good (2006 102). This therefore means that, although they have this individual power, they still need other people to validate them. Baudrillard (1998), the body is no longer remove but is taken up again in its materiality as narcissistic cult object so in relation to body building, it could be seen that individuals wh o take part in these activities are vain and think too much about themselves. Cashmore in relation to the narcissistic self that these individuals are getting in touch with their primordial sense of self (2006)According to Shilling 1993 the idea of physical capital is easily grasped by thinking of ways in which sports men and women convert physical talent into income or the ways that models, or even prostitutes use their bodies for material gain (www.aare.edu.au.01pap/lig01450.htm). Of course the ways in which the opposing classes of our society use their body would be totally different. And it could be said they view beauty differently because of the way the body is treated, to illustrate this idea Shilling argued that bodies are also formed through the development of taste preferences, lifestyles which are rooted in material constraints (2003 113). Bourdieu also argued that the act of labour are required to turn bodies into social entities and that these act influences, people d evelop and hold the physical shape of their bodies and learn how to present their bodies through styles of walk, talk and dress in Shilling 2003 112. Thus it can be argued that both types of bodies are a source of physical capital. Consequently, the body bears the indisputable imprint of an individuals social class (Bourdieu, 1984) in Shilling 2003, p. 112. Thus, people develop preferences for what is available to them Shilling 2003, p. 113Lasch saw no harm in any of these pursuits in themselves, but he rued the split with history, the turning away from collective activity, and the switch from trying to change society to changing oneself. Personal well-being health, and psychic security became the motivating goal for the generation that had earlier wanted to change the world (Cashmore 2006 102)From a supposititious stance one could posit that it is only within a deregulated and basically postmodern world, where people have the freedom to explore the self and the body in new ways (Kelleher et al. 1994 xxii) that such activity is possible. An empirical congressman of the thesis that the body is less and less an intrinsic given, that we perceive them to be more pliable and are actively seeking to alter, improve and remediate them (Giddens 1991, Nettleton and Watson 1998) in Monaghan 1999, p. 708This is because an individuals body is never fully finished. While the body is concerned in society, it is constantly affected by social, cultural and economic processes (Bourdieu, 1985) in Shilling 2003, p. 116 . With the resources, to treat the body as a lifelong project. 2003, p. 112Bourdieu states bodies are involved in the creation and reproduction of social differences, more specially, they bear the imprint of social class because of three main factors an individuals social mend their formation of their habitus and the development of their taste in Woodward (1997). This can then be said as to why Bourdieu believe that the body is a bearer of value in contempora ry society in Shilling 2003, p. 111. And that the body is in continuation of many changes this is why Bourdieu emphasized The body is an unfinished entity which develops in conjunction with various social forces and is integral to the sustentation of social inequalities in Shilling 2003, p. 113WORD COUNT 3,067