Changing Bodies

Chris Shilling is Professor of Sociology in SSPSSR at the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK. Having completed a BA in Politics and an MA in Social and Political Thought at the University of Sussex, he was awarded his PhD in the Sociology of Education at The Open University. Growing increasingly dissatisfied with cognitive conceptions of agency and disembodied theories of social and cultural processes, his research and writing from the late 1980s has sought to contribute to the embodiment of sociology and sociological theory and to promote the interdisciplinary field of ′body studies.′ He has lectured widely in Europe and North America, has written on embodiment in relation to a wide range of substantive issues (from religion, archaeology, sport, music and health and illness, to work, survival, technology and consumer culture) and his publicationshave been translated into a number of different languages. Chris Shilling′s major books include Changing Bodies: Habit, Crisis and Creativity (Sage, 2008), Embodying Sociology: Retrospect, Progress and Prospects (editor, Blackwells, 2007), The Body in Culture, Technology and Society (Sage, 2005) and, with Philip A. Mellor, The Sociological Ambition (Sage, 2001) and Re-forming the Body. Religion, Community and Modernity (Sage, 1997). He is currently editor of The Sociological Review Monograph Series and is continuing to research and write on embodiment as a foundational grounding for social thought and social research.

• IntroductionEmbodying Social ActionEmbodying Social ResearchCompetingPresentingMovingAilingSurvivingBelievingConclusion

In this accessible yet highly informative book Chris Shilling sets out an analytical framework that can help social scientists interpret the body in culture, history and society.... I would recommend this book for any scholar with even a passing interest in the body and body culture. More specifically, it will be a useful resource for researchers, lecturers and final-year or postgraduate students examining the body in fields as seemingly wide as sociology, psychology, philosophy, geography and anthropology... An excellent contribution to body studies... I look forward to seeing Shilling’s perceptive ideas progress