Body, The

It has become relatively commonplace in sociological work on “the body” to think in terms of both being and having. We are our bodies, or rather we are embodied (being) but at the same time we experience “our bodies” as external appendages that we possess (having), as when we talk about “my body,” “her body,” “my nose,” and so on.

Both of these aspects are important in relation to consumption. Consumption is an embodied practice. It is something that we do, a bodily activity. At the same time, however, “my body” is an object that can I elect to modify by way of consumption practices. I might buy a new nose via cosmetic surgery, for example, or hire the services of a personal trainer or image consultant.

Furthermore, some modifications of my body might involve embodied activity on my part, such that the distinction between being and having is blurred as both are implicated in the same activity. Walking in high heels modifies a woman's body, for example, changing its external appearance by making the woman appear taller and her legs slimmer, but walking in heels is also an acquired bodily skill. A woman has to learn to walk in heels and exercise the competence she has acquired when she wears them. If she can't walk properly in heels, then the bodily transformation she wants to bring about will not succeed.

In what follows, some of these aspects are teased out. This entry has three sections. In the first, consumption as an embodied practice is considered. In the second, how the body has become a focus of consumption practices in late modern societies is considered. The third section considers a trend, also related to consumption, that somewhat contradicts the message of the second: the rise in levels of obesity.