Beauty Industry

Dive into a complex and dynamic study of the beauty industry through this compelling volume that examines the intersection of gender, media, and everyday life. This book provides a multifaceted look at how beauty practices and perceptions are shaped and perpetuated today. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how beauty today is constructed, consumed, and contested, offering critical insights into the forces that shape our perceptions of self and others.

-- Anita Dremel, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek

Beauty Industry: Gender, Media and Everyday Life is a timely and authoritative contribution to contemporary academic and cultural discourse centered on the beauty industry’s impact on our social lives. Rather than defaulting to an easy criticism of the much-maligned industry, this workunpacks the nuances of a field that can at once empower and oppress, holding a delicate balance between constructive critique and celebration. This work, places focus on the complex ways in which identity, media, capitalism, and history intersect and shape the beauty rituals of our everyday lives. The diverse perspectives offered in this edited volume provide vital reflections on the power and impact of the beauty industry in all its manifestations across history, cultures, representations, and practices. A range of rigorous research methods and conceptual frameworks converge to provide a much-needed contemporary update on beauty industry scholarship.

Central to the premise of the volume is a focus on interdisciplinary and intersectional representation that reflects the contemporary cultural context. The collection of authors here illuminates the spaces of the beauty industry that have previously been ignored or underserved in research and cultural discourse demonstrating the ways in which beauty as a practice can transgress and shape our individual and collective ideologies. This edited volume will be significant for scholars, students, as well as industry practitioners looking for meticulously researched frameworks, histories, and material studies. This is an invaluable compendium for our complex post-beauty, late capitalist social context.

-- Vanessa Gerrie, Massey University, New Zealand

From makeup, skin care, shampoo to soap, our everyday lives are impacted by the beauty industry. As Dr. Martina Topic noted in her Foreword, “beauty standards and expectations are intertwined with capitalism and gender,” but also with race, age, class, and consumerism. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in looking critically at beauty and its impact on society. The interdisciplinary approach used by the editors, themselves representing sociological, cultural, and communication perspectives, allows diverse scholars an opportunity to voice their views on the topic, opening new debates and raising thought-provoking research questions. The book is a fresh and innovative look at beauty for an uncertain, challenging time. 

-- Karla K. Gower, Ph.D. Director, Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. Behringer Distinguished Professor, The University of Ala