--The Civilised Body-- Question: How does Elias's analysis of the "civilising process" cast doubt on the idea that the body is an exclusively biological entity?

The main thesis of Borel’s (1994) essay is that there is “an unfathomably deep and universal tendency pushes families, clans, and tribes to rapidly modify a person’s physical appearance.” There is also another underlying meaning that further amplifies why a person’s genuine physical makeup, one’s given anatomy, is always felt to be unacceptable and that “the body only speaks if it is dressed in artifice.” (Borel, 1994). Borel’s main purpose of writing her essay was to inform, persuade and entertain her audience about the history of body

In the time before scientific research, the body was described by various ideas created by people who refused to admit ignorance and instead turned myth to reality. Ever since the beginning of scientific research in the field of biology the body has turned from less of a myth to more of a tangible entity. Displayed in Document D is a comparison of the body in complete mythological form and the scientific drawing based on dissection. At the time this idea of such common materials creating the living thing that is the human must have caused an outburst, but scientific discovery must go on. This is very similar to the world of biology today, specifically neurobiology. This a a field of research that is explaining in depth how people think and that is not an explanation most people want to hear. They too do not want to be driven by such common recognizable algorithms. This is how the Renaissance has influenced the field of biology, by showing that even without the support of the public the truth must be

Miner’s 1956 ‘Body Ritual Among the Nacirema’ is an account of a fictitious tribe which displays negative dispositions of the human body and how it is regarded as sick and hideous. Miner describes how the entire ritualistic practices of the Nacirema revolve around this core issue of the body and “an example of the extremes to which human behaviour can go” (Miner, 1956). Vanity and self-image are evident throughout the account, the “Nacirema” people are using body modification from the “holy-mouth man” and “medicine men” to alter their self- image. “The human body is so bland and unexciting… just as we possess no natural weapons or protective armour, so too must we resort to techniques of our own invention in order to be visually striking.” (Polhemus and Morenko, 2004). This suggests the body is central to the ‘I’ who speaks and it is also fundamental to how we are recognised by others. Sometimes aspects of the body only appear important to us when things go wrong but, hence the tribe’s continual visitation to these “medicine men” because as humans they are trying to modify their self-image.

Herlihy: The Human Body in Health and Illness, 4th Edition Answer Key - Study Guide Chapter 1: Introduction to the Human Body Part I: Mastering the Basics Matching—General Terms 1. D 2.

The phrase “social construction” is difficult to define as it encompasses a multitude of elements, but despite that, conventionally, social construction shows ways society has conceptualised expectations and ideals which can be related to specific sociological interested areas, such as the body. Social action has been shown to have an effect on the transformation of a biological individual, although bodies appear to be simply natural - eye colour, body shape, size of feet etc - a deeper context reveals that many social situations and factors contribute to the construction of bodies. How are we to make sense of people’s bodies? Theoretical traditions which highlight socially constructed bodies have been put forward by theorists such as Elias, Foucault, Goffman and Bourdieu, however, an alternative strategy of viewing socially constructed bodies could be to link these apparently contrasting theories together. This essay will focus upon ways in which the body appears to be a social construction, paying particular detail on the length individuals endure to perform socially constructed ideals with reference to gender and class.

The human body has been coupled with various beliefs for all of history. It has been the centre and representation for questions of ethics, power and sexuality. Works like “Confession” by Linh Dinh have found ways to express these questions further. By focusing on questioning how the body operates in art, Dihn portrays and inquires a whole belief system as to how the body functions and is viewed in society.

Peter Singer Article “ Famine, Affluence and Morality gives the claim that the current institutions in affluent countries involved in providing aid to those in need are broken. Singer argues that nations that have wealth need to completely change the way they interpret pleasure and happiness. His example in this argument is the famine in Bengal in the 70’s, which gave a visual and real world example to the suffering he’s discussed in this article, he makes a real case of inequality to the emphasis of personal pleasures and moral obligations to our fellow man with economics facts, more money was spent on the happiness of people within close proximity to each other than to those out of sight and out of mind.

Many have looked at this book as to be a mysteriously convincing, habitually funny investigation of the bizarre lives of our bodies after they are dead. For around two thousand years, cadavers a few eagerly, some unintentionally have been tangled in science's courageous advances and creepiest happenings. They have verified France's principal guillotines, galloped the NASA Space Shuttle, even tormented in a Parisian test center to exam the genuineness of the Shroud of Turin, and assisted in solving the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every innovative surgical method, from heart transplants to sexual category removal surgery, cadavers are there together with surgeons. In this captivating, ennobling version, Mary Roach goes to the good actions of cadavers over the periods from the examination labs and human-traced dispensaries of primitive and Europe to a human deterioration investigation service in Tennessee, to a training workshop that involves plastic surgery. She also goes to a funeral directors' meeting on human composition which was in Scandinavia. In her amusing, unique voice, Roach expresses the absorbing account of our bodies when we do not have them anymore. With that said, this book review will provide information as to why this is a must read for everyone.

Every person is born with an innate set of traits that define who they are as a human. These traits, such as curiosity, exemplify what it means to be a human being. These natural traits, however, are not able to be fully recognized due to society altering the way that humans interact with one another. These traits are impaired and altered by society in order to create a civilization that is cohesive in terms of its function and goals. These natural traits are not only being altered, as these natural traits have a large impact on the changes that occur in the way a society functions. The innate traits shown in these texts are impaired and modified through their interactions with civilization. These modifications lead to the individual furthering

Berrebi, Darrio. "Effects Of Poverty On Society: Why We Should All Care". Poverties.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 8 Mar. 2017.

One of the most astonishing things on earth is the human body. They consist of many organs that work together to maintain the person alive. The humans body composition is complex, but what was the origin? How did we become who we are today? These are the questions that intrigued me, and allowed me to understand how the human body evolved over the years. By the examination of our ancestors, and our body we will understand how we look today.

The problem of human suffering is one that we must work towards fully ending. When we step forward into a world where poverty is ending we must bring aid and education, community, economical development, empowerment to individual and then we will be able to see a real change in the communities and society.

In Renaissance Literature, the body has been interpreted in different ways. Renaissance writers understood the body as consisting of four humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Gail Kern Paster states in ‘“Civilizing the Humoral body”’ that “every subject grew up with a common understanding of his or her body as a semipermeable, irrigated container

Society is forever adapting to the different values held at the time. However, there are various values that even now, are present in today’s society. Suffering is an everyday occurrence, either on a great or minor scale, yet suffering is all around us and because of this, society has developed the skill of ignoring it. Even though created in distant time periods, Ovid’s ‘Icarus’, Breughel’s ‘Fall Of Icarus’ and Auden’s ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’, all present their societies principle of human indifference towards suffering and the continuance of the human life, as suffering occurs.

This essay will look at the conceptual tools that Bourdieu employed to explain the interactions of class and status on social and economical inequalities. Bourdieu uses conceptual tools that consist of the notion habitus, and the identification of three forms of capital: economic, cultural, social and the concept of field. Bourdieu (1930-2002) was interested in the systems that society used to reproduce, and the economic and social factors that permitted the stability of class. Unlike Marx, Bourdieu, alike Weber, believed that the exploited and exploiter dichotomy could not be explained by economics alone. Bourdieu’s theory on social class mirrors much of Weber’s theory of the influence of non-economic subjective factors such as status, knowledge,