The Body Social and Cultural Dissections [Hardcover]

This college-level handbook offers a comprehensive and accessible overview of sociological and cultural perspectives on the human body. Organized along the lines of a standard anatomical textbook delineated by body parts and processes, this volume subverts the expected content in favor of providing tools for social and cultural analysis.

Students will learn about the human body in its social, cultural, and political contexts, with emphasis on multiple, contested meanings of the body, body parts, and systems. Case studies, examples, and discussion questions are both US-based and international. Advancing critical body studies, the book explicitly discusses bodies in relation to race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, age, health, geography, and citizenship status. The framing is sociological rather than biomedical, attentive to cultural meanings, institutional practices, politics, and social problems. The authors use commonly understood anatomical frames to discuss social, cultural, political, and ethical issues concerning embodiment.

1. Introduction  Part I: Building Blocks  2. Genes  3. Cells and Tissues  4. Organs  5. Fluids  6. Bones and Muscles Part II: Systems and Their Representation  7. Central Nervous System  8. Circulation  9. Respiration  10. Endocrine System and Metabolism  11. Digestion  12. Reproduction  Part III: What Others See  13. Faces  14. Skin  15. Hair  16. Breasts  17. Genitals

This highly original and exciting textbook significantly updates the sociology of the body while also offering a new style of engagement with readers from many disciplines. A great strength is its accessibility, making available complex theoretical and conceptual analyses of bodies and embodlsh