Understanding the Socialized Body: A Poststructuralist Analysis of Consumers' Self-Conceptions, Body Images, and Self-Care Practices

The present inquiry examines the psychosocial meanings and processes that shape consumers' sense of body image and the consumption behaviors motivated by those perceptions. Poststructuralist interpretive procedures were used to analyze interviews with 30 male and female consumers, aged 6-54. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer research 1995-09, Vol.22 (2), p.139-153
Main Authors: Thompson, Craig J., Hirschman, Elizabeth C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body Image
Consumer behavior
Consumer motivation
Consumer research
Consumers
Consumption
Food
Guilt
Overweight
Postmodernism
Poststructuralism
Psychosocial Factors
Self Concept
Self control
Self image
Social psychology
Studies
Theory
Visual fixation
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Summary:The present inquiry examines the psychosocial meanings and processes that shape consumers' sense of body image and the consumption behaviors motivated by those perceptions. Poststructuralist interpretive procedures were used to analyze interviews with 30 male and female consumers, aged 6-54. This discourse analysis led to the development of three process-orientated themes: (1) the ideology of self-control, (2) the social processes of normalization and problematization, and (3) the operation of the disciplinary gaze The systematic manifestations of these themes are illustrated across a range of consumer experiences and body-focused perceptions. Implications of these themes for the theoretical conceptualizations of body image and the nature of self-concept in contemporary consumer culture are discussed.
ISSN:0093-5301
1537-5277
DOI:10.1086/209441