The Body in Culture, Technology and Society

As a theoretical and substantive contribution to the study of the body as well as to social theory and sociological research more generally, Shilling (humanities and social science, U. of Portsmith) accounts for the enigmatic nature of embodiment in social theory; suggests that classical sociological writings have converged around a new view of the body as a multi-dimensional medium for the constitution of society; critically examines recent approaches to the social body; and analyzes the body and the economy, culture, sociality, and technology. The four topics are related in a classical convergence he calls a form of corporeal realism that provides a framework that can reduce the analytical elusiveness of the body and overcome some of the theoretical limitations of recent approaches. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR