Schönheitssoziologie - ein Überblick

Abstract

Everybody is Doing Beauty (which refers to the German word Schönheitshandeln) - women use make-up daily and men shave. The first section of this paper deals with the differentiation of the various forms of Doing Beauty. On the one hand some of these actions are part of the daily routine and carried out in a rather unconscious way. On the other hand there are a number of actions where the result is durable, intended and product of a rational process. However they have one thing in common: Doing Beauty means both portraying yourself and securing one’s identity. In the following the focus is on the motives for it: conformity and individuality the pursuit or refusal of the prevailing beauty ideal. Several gender-specific hypotheses are derived from these theoretical implications, for example: Females are more critical of their own body and therefore, attain a higher degree of Doing Beauty. In contrast, men are more content with themselves, which is also reflected by the extent and manner of their Doing Beauty. These differences are to be found for activities in a daily routine as well as a product of a rational process. The discrepancies between the sexes are evaluated with a student sample (N=621). The quantitative analyses dearly show the different levels of involvement in these actions. In fact females are more critical of their bodies, their amount of time spend on Doing Beauty habitually is larger, their consideration of durable actions is more pronounced as well as they perform these actions more often.

Körper, Leistung, Selbstdarstellung

“…Aus den Konzepten der Befragten heraus lassen sich diese zwei Arten charakterisieren als einerseits regelmäßig-routinisierte und andererseits unregelmäßig-besondere Praxen (vgl. Krause 2014). Bei diesen zwei Formen fallen Überschneidungen auf in dem Sinne, dass die Befragten teilweise dieselben Praxen als unterschiedliche Arten verorten.…”

“…die permanente Sichtbarkeit, die quantitative Exposition, die meist selbstverständlich gesetzt und der Problematisierung entzogen ist und so Wissensordnungen festigen kann (vgl. Posch 2009, Krause 2014. Aber damit im Zusammenhang wäre die Etablierung einer Perspektive konstruktiv, die Medientexte daraufhin befragt, inwieweit sie eine Art konzentrierte Kristallisation sozial geteilter Diskurse, gesellschaftlicher Verhältnisse, also eines »dominanten kulturellen Bilderrepertoires« (Maier 2010: 216) sind.…”

“. . . To really have everything completely perfect”: On the psychodynamics of contemporary forms of body optimization.

“…The decreased relevance of work with the body (physical labor) has led to the increased significance of work on the body (Hancock & Tyler, 2000;Lengersdorf, 2017;Wolkowitz, 2006). In order to gain recognition and position oneself socially, it becomes necessary to adapt to an ideal defined by performance and youthfulness (Krause, 2014). What is more, technological developments have made altering the body by design increasingly "feasible" and putatively more accessible.…”

“…The number of invasive interventions has also increased rapidly worldwide since the 1990s: Wrinkle injections and Botox treatments, as well as eyelid corrections, liposuction and breast augmentation have been among the most frequently performed aesthetic procedures in Germany for years and are becoming a matter of course for many (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ästhetisch-Plastische Chirurgie [DGÄPC], 2017). Gender differences and stereotypes continue to manifest themselves in the drive to optimize the body: While women strive to look beautiful, slim, and fit, men strive for muscular physiques and strength (Krause, 2014, p. 159). At the same time, the number of cosmetic procedures undergone by men is also increasing: In addition to eyelid liftings, Botox treatments and liposuction are among those most frequently performed (DGÄPC, 2017).…”