Presentation of The end of the body, Emily Martin

Résumé du document

Why is the question of the body so important and relevant today? This is because the body is a key feature in Western societies, as historical factors have led to the merging of a salient body; among them: the European state formation (with the creation of protected citizenship), industrialization (I will develop this point while talking about Fordism), or the modern forms of power (which, according to Foucault, orient the way people deal with their own bodies: gestures, postures, way of talking). All these factors can explain why the body is such an important topic of social and cultural analysis.

Extraits

[...] production of the same. The body is discussed as a hierarchical standardized mechanism which implies a sense of rigidity. Bodies are organized according to the principles of 'centralized control' and 'factory-based production'. Unlike in the postmodern conception of the body, the relation between organs is hierarchical. The body is conceived as an entity rulled by the principles of efficiency, reproduction, equilibrium (which are tightly linked with Industrialization) and were supposed to support mass production needs and ideals. Secondly, The body in late capitalism The Emily Martin article says that the Fordist body still exists, but now, we all have a flexible accumulation body. [...]

[...] There is a political imaginary behind this idea of the body, which is actually not flexible. Hence the question : How can we have these two opposing bodies? do you think those two conceptions of the body are compatible ? On the one hand you have the desire for a more and more flexible body, and you have the simultaneous desire for an anchor a historical existence. Indeed, if one is constantly uprooted, the desire for safety and stability is more attractive. [...]

[...] They transmit messages to each other in a word, desubstancialization is taking place. It loses solidity where it becomes flexible. It is not just the fixed identity, but a pattern of communication; its possible relation to other cells has become the basis of human life. A certain gene doesn't even determine a specific trait it still needs to go through communication. There is a de-substancialized view of the body due to immunology and genetics. There is no fixed place which operates as a grounded point of view in the body. [...]

[...] Why is the question of the body so important and relevant today? Because the body is a key feature in Western societies, as historical factors have led to the merging of a salient body; among them: the European state formation (with the creation of protected citizenship), industrialization will develop this point while talking about Fordism), or the modern forms of power (which, according to Foucault, orient the way people deal with their own bodies : gestures, postures, way of talking . [...]