Brief Lecture Notes

     WALLACE AND WOLF - CHAPTERS 8 AND 9: SOCILOGY OF THE BODY AN POSTMODERNISM

These two chapters will be combined.

As we will explain in lecture, sociological theories do not occur in a 
vacuum. We learned from Kuhn that they arise in a social context when
new questions arise that old theories can't adequately address, or when
old theories seem unable to answer existing questions.

Most sociological theories, from Durkheim through all of those that
we've studied so far, have focused on social structure, social process,
social coherence, and--in general--ignoring the fundmental part of
our lives that is a starting point: THE BODY. That's what chapter 8 
addresses.

In the last few decades, attention has turned to a "sociology of the
body." This has taken many forms, but the central focus is on
the human body as a factor to be included in understanding both how
the body shapes the social world and how the social world shapes
our SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS of the body. While some sociologists have done
this over a half-century ago, it has become far more common in the last
few decades. 

This has taken many forms:

1) Focus on health, health care, aging as a reflection of social factors

2) Socio-biology: The "hard-wiring" that may shape social processes and
structure and vice-versa
  --genetic influences
  --family structure
  --gender relations

3) The body as representation: 
  --The body as locus of power (Foucault)
  --The body as symbol (of status or identity)
  --The body as the core of sexuality

4) Mental illness 
  
5) Biology and culture (agression, leisure activities, violence)

==========================================

CHAPTER 9 
(COMING, but see the links on post-structualism and postmodernism for
the lecture note)

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