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Body Work

Youth, Gender and Health

Julia Coffey author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:18th May '18

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Body Work cover

This insightful examination of youth studies explores the connections between health, gender ideals, and societal expectations, particularly in the context of body image. Body Work offers a critical perspective.

In Body Work, the author delves into the intricate relationship between the body and youth studies. The exploration centers on the concept of 'health' and its deep ties to societal expectations regarding gender ideals. With the growing public emphasis on individual responsibility in achieving a 'healthy' body, the book critically examines how these ideals shape young people's perceptions and experiences of their own bodies.

The rise of health, beauty, and fitness industries has intensified the focus on body image, particularly in the context of youth. While issues surrounding body image, gender, and health have long been significant in sociology and youth studies, there has been a notable lack of theoretical and empirical attention to the body itself. Body Work addresses this gap by investigating how young individuals understand their bodies against the backdrop of consumer culture, individualization, and societal expectations.

Coffey highlights the paradoxical nature of gendered body work practices, particularly how men are increasingly engaging with these industries as consumers while simultaneously reinforcing traditional gender differences. The book outlines various methods through which the ideal body is pursued today, including muscularity, dieting, and cosmetic enhancements. With its innovative conceptual framework, Body Work stands at the forefront of research on bodies, affect, and images, making it a valuable resource for scholars and students across a range of disciplines, including youth studies, sociology, and gender studies.

"Accessible, lively and timely, this book makes bodies visible in youth sociology. Coffey’s analysis of body work by young people draws effortlessly on the insights of Deleuze, Guattari and Spinoza to disrupt accepted understandings of youth. Using vivid examples, she shows how young people engaging in body work both produce and resist gendered inequalities and health risks. Coffey issues a challenge to ‘embody’ youth studies – and the broader field of sociology. Reading this book is a must."

—Professor Johanna Wyn, Director, Youth Research Centre, the University of Melbourne

"Julia Coffey’s materialist approach places the body and its capacities at the forefront of analysis in youth studies research. It documents the body work of contemporary young people, ranging from cosmetic surgery and fitness classes to sexting, football and tattoos. A must-read book for youth work students and professionals alike!"

—Nick J. Fox, Professor of Sociology, University of Sheffield

"In this truly innovative and ground breaking contribution to the study of embodied experience Coffey invites us to rethink the role of the body in the study of youth. Drawing upon advancements in new materialist thought, a framework for understanding the body as a set of dynamic, relational processes and affective engagements is offered as a corrective to established approaches which cast the young body as a site where risk and social problems are managed. Throughout the analysis this reorientation makes way for more complex, contradictory and open ended explorations of the interconnections between bodies, gender, health and youth. This non-reductive reading of body work practices sets the tone for new research agendas and will surely inspire further theoretical and methodological advances in the study of embodied experience across a wide a variety social contexts."

—Shelley Budgeon, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Birmingham

ISBN: 9781138592841

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 310g

162 pages