An anthropologist’s view: Consideration of human beauty in traditional and modern societies
Laurent, Pierre-Joseph
An anthropologist’s view: Consideration of human beauty in traditional and modern societies - 2023.
52
Contemplating a face can sow doubt, lead to confusion, to equivocation. Unable to detach oneself from a face, the fascination is ineffable. Beauty favors a world for two, the creation of a bubble. In this way, it is asocial, it is not conducive to social relations. I propose that in order to strengthen social bonds, the beauty of the body, in the sense of its unequal distribution, had to be regulated, managed, controlled. This text shows how this was the case for the traditional societies studied by the anthropologists. It then analyzes how contemporary societies have emancipated themselves from the old principles of social regulation of beauty—but with what consequences, on individuals, social relations, and society as a whole?
An anthropologist’s view: Consideration of human beauty in traditional and modern societies - 2023.
52
Contemplating a face can sow doubt, lead to confusion, to equivocation. Unable to detach oneself from a face, the fascination is ineffable. Beauty favors a world for two, the creation of a bubble. In this way, it is asocial, it is not conducive to social relations. I propose that in order to strengthen social bonds, the beauty of the body, in the sense of its unequal distribution, had to be regulated, managed, controlled. This text shows how this was the case for the traditional societies studied by the anthropologists. It then analyzes how contemporary societies have emancipated themselves from the old principles of social regulation of beauty—but with what consequences, on individuals, social relations, and society as a whole?
Réseaux sociaux