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. The importance of a theoretical understanding of the body to social and cultural analysis of contemporary societies is demonstrated through specific case studies.

Preface - Mike Featherstone, Mike Hepworth and Bryan S TurnerRecent Developments in the Theory of the Body - Bryan S TurnerBringing Bodies Back In - Arthur FrankOn Human Beings and Their Emotions - Norbert Elias a Process-Sociological EssayOn the Civilizing of Appetite - Stephen MennellThe Discourse of Diet - Bryan S TurnerThe Body in Consumer Culture - Mike FeatherstoneThe Midlifestyle of ¿George and Lynne¿ - Mike Featherstone and Mike HepworthMartial Arts as a Resource for Liberal Education - Donald N Levine The Case of AikidoBio-politics and Social Policy - Martin Hewitt Foucault¿s Account of WelfareGenealogy and The Body - Scott Lash Foucault/Deleuze/NietzscheThe Art of The Body in The Discourse of Postmodernity - Roy BoyneLove¿s Labour Lost? A Sociological View - Margareta BertilssonBiographical Boundaries - Graham McCann Sociology and Marilyn MonroeCarmen - or The Invention of a New Feminine Myth - Dick Pels and Aya CrebasThe Mask of Ageing - Mike Featherstone and Mike HepworthSociological Discourse and The Body - J M Berthelot