The Lived Body

The Lived Body takes a fresh look at the notion of human embodiment and provides an ideal textbook for undergraduates on the growing number of courses on the sociology of the body. The authors propose a new approach - an 'Embodied Sociology' - one which makes embodiment central rather than peripheral. They critically examine the dualist legacies of the past, assessing the ideas of a range of key thinkers, from Marx to Freud, Foucault to Giddens, Deleuze to Guattari and Irigary to Grosz, in terms of the bodily themes and issues they address. They also explore new areas of research, including the 'fate' of embodiment in late modernity, sex, gender, medical technology and the body, the sociology of emotions, pain, sleep and artistic representations of the body. The Lived Body will provide students and researchers in medical sociology, health sciences, cultural studies and philosophy with clear, accessible coverage of the major theories and debates in the sociology of the body and a challenging new way of thinking.

Simon J Williams is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. He is also Co-Director of the new centre for Research in health, Medicine and Society. Gillian Bendelow is a Lecturer in medical sociology and social policy at the University of Warwick

1.Sociology and the 'problem' of the body 2.Bodily 'order': cultural and historical perspectives on conformity and transgression 3.Bodily 'control': body techniques, intercorporeality and the embodiment of social action 4.The body in 'high' modernity and consumer culture 5.The 'libidinal' body: psychoanalysis, critical theory and the 'problem' of human desire 6.'Uncontainable' bodies: feminisms, boundaries and reconfigured identities 7.The emotionally 'expressive' body 8.Pain and the 'dys-appearing' body 9.The 'dormant body: sleep, night-time and dreams 10.Artistic bodies: representaion and resistance. Conclusions.