The good body: when big is better.
Med Anthropol
; 13(3): 181-213, 1991 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-1961102
ABSTRACT
An important cultural question is, "What is a 'good'--desirable, beautiful, impressive--body?" The answers are legion; here I examine why bigger bodies represent survival skill, and how this power symbolism is embodied by behaviors that guide larger persons toward the top of the social hierarchy. bigness is a complex concept comprising tallness, boniness, muscularity and fattiness. Data show that most people worldwide want to be big--both tall and fat. Those who achieve the ideal are disproportionately among the society's most socially powerful. In the food-secure West, fascination with power and the body has not waned, but has been redefined such that thinness is desired. This apparent anomaly is resolved by realizing that thinness in the midst of abundance--as long as one is also tall and muscular--still projects the traditional message of power, and brings such social boons as upward mobility.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Classe Social
/
Constituição Corporal
/
Imagem Corporal
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Poder Psicológico
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Obesidade
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
1991
Tipo de documento:
Article