Preface - Mike Featherstone, Mike Hepworth and Bryan S Turner
Recent Developments in the Theory of the Body - Bryan S Turner
Bringing Bodies Back In - Arthur Frank
On Human Beings and Their Emotions - Norbert Elias
a Process-Sociological Essay
On the Civilizing of Appetite - Stephen Mennell
The Discourse of Diet - Bryan S Turner
The Body in Consumer Culture - Mike Featherstone
The Midlifestyle of 'George and Lynne' - Mike Featherstone and Mike Hepworth
Martial Arts as a Resource for Liberal Education - Donald N Levine
The Case of Aikido
Bio-politics and Social Policy - Martin Hewitt
Foucault's Account of Welfare
Genealogy and The Body - Scott Lash
Foucault/Deleuze/Nietzsche
The Art of The Body in The Discourse of Postmodernity - Roy Boyne
Love's Labour Lost? A Sociological View - Margareta Bertilsson
Biographical Boundaries - Graham McCann
Sociology and Marilyn Monroe
Carmen - or The Invention of a New Feminine Myth - Dick Pels and Aya Crebas
The Mask of Ageing - Mike Featherstone and Mike Hepworth
Sociological Discourse and The Body - J M Berthelot

This challenging volume reasserts the centrality of the body within social theory as a means to understanding the complex interrelations between nature, culture and society. At a theoretical level, the volume explores the origins of a social theory of the body in sources ranging from the work of Nietzsche to contemporary feminist theory.

The importance of a theoretical understanding of the body to social and cultural analysis of contemporary societies is demonstrated through specific case studies. These range from the expression of the emotions, romantic love, dietary practice, consumer culture, fitness and beauty, to media images of women and sexuality.