Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art
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Overview
Tattoos have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among young people. While tattooing is used as a symbol of personal identity and social communication, there has been little sociological study of the phenomenon. In Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, tattoo enthusiasts share their stories about their bodies and tattooing experiences. Michael Atkinson shows how enthusiasts negotiate and celebrate their 'difference' as it relates to the social stigma attached to body art - how the act of tattooing is as much a response to the stigma as it is a form of personal expression - and how a generation has appropriated tattooing as its own symbol of inclusiveness. Atkinson further demonstrates how the displaying of tattooed bodies to others - techniques of disclosure, justification, and representation - has become a part of the shared experience.Cultural sensibilities about tattooing are discussed within historical context and in relation to broader trends in body modification, such as cosmetic surgery, dieting, and piercing. The author also employs research from a number of disciplines, as well as contemporary sociological and postmodern theory, to analyze the enduring social significance of body art.
Synopsis
For too long, says Atkinson (sociology, McMaster U.) sociologists have dismissed tattooing as a symbol of personal sickness, subcultural deviance, or social disrepute, but they are now beginning to recognize it as a cultural signifier. Drawing on his ten years of personal involvement with tattoo enthusiasts in Canada, and using a figurational approach, he analyzes contemporary tattooing figuration in Canada to illustrate how the highly individualistic act is essentially a group phenomenon involving a myriad of connected social actors. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR