The Body and Social Theory

Chris Shilling is Professor of Sociology in SSPSSR at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. Having completed a BA in Politics and an MA in Social and Political Thought at the University of Sussex, he was awarded his PhD in the Sociology of Education at The Open University. Growing increasingly dissatisfied with cognitive conceptions of agency and disembodied theories of social and cultural processes, his research and writing from the late 1980s has sought to contribute to the embodiment of sociology and sociological theory and to promote the interdisciplinary field of ′body studies.′ He has lectured widely in Europe and North America, has written on embodiment in relation to a wide range of substantive issues (from religion, archaeology, sport, music and health and illness, to work, survival, technology and consumer culture) and his publicationshave been translated into a number of different languages. Chris Shilling′s major books include Changing Bodies: Habit, Crisis and Creativity (Sage, 2008), Embodying Sociology: Retrospect, Progress and Prospects (editor, Blackwells, 2007), The Body in Culture, Technology and Society (Sage, 2005) and, with Philip A. Mellor, The Sociological Ambition (Sage, 2001) and Re-forming the Body. Religion, Community and Modernity (Sage, 1997). He is currently editor of The Sociological Review Monograph Series and is continuing to research and write on embodiment as a foundational grounding for social thought and social research.

In The Body and Social Theory Chris Shilling has built on his expertise in the sociology of the body to provide a canonical treatment of the subject that he renders with theoretical depth and clarity of prose, making this book invaluable.Jaqueline LowUniversity of New Brunswick, Canada Lucidly argued and accessibly written, this book makes a convincing case for an embodied sociology which avoids the pitfalls of either too much naturalism or too much social constructivism. It is a book with something for everyone, from the classics in social theory on the body to contemporary bodily phenomena like genetics, body modification, and cultural anxieties about death. Kathy DavisUtrecht University With many new additions, both substantive and theoretical, this volume is at the forefront of body studies. Written in a crisp and concise manner, it is an authoritative and invaluable contribution.Bryan S. TurnerThe Graduate Centre, CUNY

• Preface to the Third EditionIntroductionThe Body in SociologyThe Naturalistic BodyThe Socially Constructed BodyThe Body and Social Inequalities: Embodying SociologyThe Body and Physical CapitalThe Civilized BodyThe Body, Self-Identity and Death: Figurations of Life and DeathAfterword: Embodiment, Identity and TheoryAbsent-Present BodiesThe Body and Self-IdentityBody Theories and Corporeal Realism