Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This challenging volume reasserts the centrality of the body within social theory as a means to understanding the complex interrelations between nature, culture and society. At a theoretical level, the volume explores the origins of a social theory of the body in sources ranging from the work of Nietzsche to contemporary feminist theory. The importance of a theoretical understanding of the body to social and cultural analysis of contemporary societies is demonstrated through specific case studies. These range from the expression of the emotions, romantic love, dietary practice, consumer culture, fitness and beauty, to media images of women and sexuality.

This wide-ranging book draws in part on papers published in Theory,

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface
• Recent Developments in the Theory of the Body
• Bringing Bodies Back In
• On Human Beings and Their Emotions
• a Process-Sociological Essay
• On the Civilizing of Appetite
• The Discourse of Diet
• The Body in Consumer Culture
• The Midlifestyle of 'George and Lynne'
• Martial Arts as a Resource for Liberal Education
• The Case of Aikido
• Bio-politics and Social Policy
• Foucault's Account of Welfare
• Genealogy and The Body
• Foucault/Deleuze/Nietzsche
• The Art of The Body in The Discourse of Postmodernity
• Love's Labour Lost? A Sociological View
• Biographical Boundaries
• Sociology and Marilyn Monroe
• Carmen - or The Invention of a New Feminine Myth
• The Mask of Ageing
• Sociological Discourse and The Body