Sociocultural Theory Essay

Modern people live media-saturated lives, even children as young as 6 years old, have had some type of media exposure. Extensive exposure to media outlets can lead to body image issues. Body image is defined as, the subjective picture or mental image of one's own body (Smolak 2003). Body image is formed as people compare themselves to others. Because, people are exposed to countless media images; these images become the basis for such comparisons. These mental comparisons, have a strong influence on an individual’s personal perception of beauty. Media outlets create images and pressures about what our bodies should look like; however, sometimes these images have been manipulated, creating an unrealistic expectation of beauty. When an individual believes that their body is substandard, they can become depressed, suffer from low self-esteem, or develop eating disorders.

As with females, body image among males is a prevailing symptom and underlying motivation for the development and continuation of the disorder.

In Susan Bordo’s article entitled, “Never Just Pictures,” Bordo explores the driving forces behind the ever-intensifying, pervasive, and obsessive behaviors related to perceptions of and adherence to “acceptable” dictates regarding body image. Bordo’s insightful observations, examples, historical development, and logic shed light on how these dictates developed and from where they currently emanate, including the self-appointed societal, cultural, philosophical, and psychological “gatekeepers” of beauty in today’s society.

One of the sociological theories is conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with people's level on wealth, or class. The conflict theory says that social change is beneficial, contrary to focuses on social order. In the story of the woman and her children, the conflict theory plays a big role on the situation. Police of higher class are threatening the homeless woman. The conflict theory is a constant struggle of people of higher class over powering people of lower class, or the weaker. The police are trying to over power the woman by telling her to leave. Even though the woman and her children were doing nothing wrong, the police used their power to tell her to leave. Also the people of the area showed

In the article “Never Just Pictures,” Susan Bordo acknowledges how the cultural perception of body image of both men and women has been increasing in viciousness exponentially. The societal views of the models in advertisements, on television or in magazines, have proven themselves to be “fabulously” horrific throughout the last few decades. However, an incredible amount of commercial funding, euphemistic language, dietary support groups and other lifestyle changes are merely thought up, created and shipped out door-to-door to virtually all people who cannot simply stand being a kind soul towards others who are apparently suffering, in the medias (blind) eyes. This terrifying phenomenon is especially shocking since there have been articles

The body image movement aims to improve the relationship between women and their bodies in a more positive manner (Dove 2014). Currently, women are suffering from an increase in body self-consciousness as a result of medias role regarding beauty ideals. Researchers have found that women worldwide do not view themselves as beautiful and are consistently troubled about their appearance and concluded that six out of ten girls are concerned about their appearances (Dove 2014). As a result, anxiety and self-consciousness are all contributing factors producing significant health concerns among women (Aubrey 2007). Media has developed a reputation in society for women to be held to unachievable beauty standards as they promote a “thin culture” (Hesse-Biber et al. 2006). This promotion of beauty standards has inspired the body image movement to educate and encourage women to love their bodies in order to achieve more self-esteem and confidence (Dove 2014). As well as, corporations are beginning to

This raises the question about gender difference and the concept of body image and prevalence of

Body- image anxiety is an issue that many people struggle with nowadays. There are many factors that contribute to one’s anxiety of body image, for example it could stem from media, social and personal view. “An Insatiable Emptiness,” by Evelyn Lau, focuses on her own personal struggles with bulimia, and her strained relationships with her mother. “Distorted Image,” by Susan McCelland focuses on the social dynamics of body image and provide reports of different cultural aspects on body image. Both of these articles explore a different perspective of how one cope with body image issue and the impact upon it.

People now a days have a problem with the way they appear. For hundreds of years, people, especially females, have been concerned with their weight, the way they look, and the way people perceive them. In the article, Do You Have a Body Image Problem? author Dr. Katharine A. Phillips discusses the concerns with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Dr. Phillips uses her knowledge or ethics to discuss the effects that BDD has on people today. She also uses emotion to show the reader how people are seriously affected by this disorder. In Dr. Phillips article, she discusses how people are emotionally and socially affected by the body dysmorphic disorder, and how society is also affected by it.

Sociological theory creates ways to understand the social world by having different theories to explain understand social life. It aids to make sense of this social world. It draws together a wide range of perspectives to help provide the fullest picture. (Macionis & Plummer p.36) It shows that one theory can explain something that another cannot. My aim is to answer this question with reference to both functionalism and conflict theory. This will be done by comparing and contrasting both theories in relation to their perspectives on both suicide and gender discrimination as social issues relevant to this day and age. Functionalism and conflict perspectives are both macro theories. This means that they focus on the big picture, for

While in the Women and the Body course, I was able to dissect the images, constraints, and beliefs associated with the woman’s body. The debate over body image originated from patriarchal constraints, deeming that women have to fit into an ideal of womanhood. A woman’s body image is suppose to be a direct link to the man she is with. She should have childbearing hips, a stature that is associated in being motherly, and breasts to breast feed the children. With that it grew into using man made objects to reinforce the patriarchal power about body

Body image is a major concern amongst the majority, primarily the youth of the female population, ranging from as young as five years old to tertiary students, ’74.4% of the normal-weight women stated that they thought about their weight or appearance ‘all the time’ or ‘frequently’’ (Brown University, unknown).

Sociological Perspectives and Theories Sociologists try to explain how society orders itself but there are many different theories for this, which often conflict with one another. Some of these classic theories include Marxism, Functionalism, and Interactionism. There are also more modern or contemporary theories such as Feminism. Each sociological perspective has different beliefs.

The media have constructed attractiveness for a long time many sociocultural standards of beauty and. Especially women’s body images have been a primary concern because the value of women has been measured how they look like. How women have similar body traits with the modern female body images has been a significant and essential issue, historically. The sociocultural standards of beauty which have been created by the greed of the media have dire impacts on young females. The current beauty level of the female body image in the media is thinness. In fact, the preferred female body images have been changed through the media. Throughout history, sometimes skinny women’s body images were loved, and sometimes over weighted women’s body images were preferred. Whenever the media have dictated the ideal female

Swami Nirmalananda, a disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna, once said “Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.” Society is seen as a cage by many because the cultural beliefs that make up the society are what guide the actions and behaviors of those people within. Sometimes the culture in societies result in helping people develop successfully and positively, but this is not always the case. For instance, societies that were challenged by racism during the mid-twentieth century were marked by rage and were the causes of some troublesome lives. In two short stories set during the mid-twentieth century, “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” by