Quiz 7: Consumer Culture

Case Study: Mastering High Heels

• A synthesis of mind, body, and cultural values

• Not ergonomic and terrible for the body

• Women acquire the habitus of wearing heels

• High heels are prized for the ability to empower women, making them feel confident and sexy

  • Controversial because it treats as young girls as “sex objects”

• Mastery of this signifies a mature woman

Sensory Motricity and Habit Body

• One theory of mind-body skills

• 20th-century phenomenology

  • Knowledge comes from experience in the world

• Our bodily movements and sensory experiences in the world shape how we perceive ourselves and our surroundings.

Heideigger:

• Another theory of mind-body skills

• “to be” being, Sein requires being some place (Dasein)

• We cannot exist outside space and time

• Consciousness comes from experiencing movement in the world

Merleau Ponty

• We sense stimuli as we move in the world

• Sensory-Motricity: Perception of surroundings through bodily movements

  • Self-consciousness

  • Requires material surroundings

• We become habituated to repeated experiences of sensory-motricity, which creates a habit body

• Adds perception to Mauss’ habitus

• Objects are assimilated into our “habit-body” or our sense of self and become part of the user’s being

Praxeology

• Jean-Pierre Warnier

• Praxeology: How knowledge is enacted or embodied

• Praxis is practical applied knowledge

• Praxeology is bodily synthesis

  • Motricity (Mauss)

  • Perception, sensory motricity (Merleau-Ponty)

  • Apprenticeship: A learning period to develop habit-body from praxis

    • Adds human purpose or intentions, thus adds cognition and emotions

• Apprenticeship takes time and the total human changes as bodily actions are mastered, changing sense of self over time

Materiality and Skill

• Tim Ingold

• Fills in gaps about matter, objects, and environments of previous theoreis

• All of these actions have to be assembled in praxis

• The agency of humans and objects emerges in interactions in social fields

  • Sensori-psycho-motricity requires objects

• Example is sawing wood

  • Synergy: Saw wood and human (body+ mind) must assemble in dynamic coordination

  • Perception has to be constantly coordinated with human action

• Processional vs successional action

• From apprenticeship, you develop skill

• Goes beyond reverse adaptation: Objects teach our bodies to use them effectively- we assimilate them into our practice and u

Psychomotricity vs. Sociomotricity

• Psychomotricity: Individual motor capacity

  • movement and coordination of one’s own body (e.g., you riding your bike alone).

• Sociomotricity: Motor capacity in a social context

  • coordinated, often nonverbal, movement with others (e.g., biking or playing sports in a group).

• Sociomotricity involves sensory-motor communication within a group and self-monitoring + monitoring by others.

Motricity and Culture

• Motricity (bodily movement) is shaped by the values, beliefs, and customs of a cultural group.

• Cultural learning gives bodily movement meaning and social significance.

Case Study – Chopstick Use

• Requires apprenticeship and practice to gain skill and fluidity.

• Reflects cultural values and etiquette — e.g., never stick chopsticks upright in food.

• Involves sociomotricity: eating with others, learning through observation and imitation.

• Symbolizes cultural belonging and the enculturation of bodily movement.

Body Hexis – The Encultured Body (Pierre Bourdieu)

• Concept introduced by Pierre Bourdieu to expand on Mauss’ habitus.

• Describes learned bodily postures, gestures, and motor functions shaped by culture.

• Acquired unconsciously through imitation and interaction with objects.

• Represents the embodiment of culture

  • not just in the mind but in the body itself.

Hexis vs. Habitus

Habitus: 

• Acquired bodily capacities

• General social learning

• Biological + social

• Somewhat explicit

Hexis

• Bodily dispositions embedded in culture

• Enculturation — learning through imitation

• Cultural meaning + embodiment

• Largely unconscious

• Emphasized exis (bodily disposition)

• Connects body movements to social class, gender, and cultural differences

Enculturation and Learning

• Enculturation: Process by which cultural values, beliefs, and motor patterns are transmitted to children.

• Occurs through unconscious imitation — not direct instruction.

• Involves use of objects (e.g., spoon, bowl, chopsticks) that shape body techniques.

• Builds sociomotricity and body hexis over time.

Embodiment of Culture

• Culture is not only in the mind; it is embodied through movement and habit.

• Bodily gestures and postures carry social meanings.

• Cultural differences (and inequalities) are embodied:

  • Class differences → posture, gait, manners

  • Gender differences → movement, dress (e.g., high heels)

• Therefore, human bodies are not equivalent; they are enculturated differently.

Bourdieu’s Major Work

• Outline of a Theory of Practice” (1977) — foundational text in theories of practice.

• Redefines habitus as a more complex system of embodied, meaningful social action.

• Body hexis remains key to understanding how culture and power are physically expressed.

Eating Technologies

• “Eating technologies” = tools that move food from dish to mouth (hands, forks, chopsticks).

• Each utensil requires its own praxis — learned, embodied technique.

• All cultures have a spoon-like tool, but fork vs. chopstick cultures differ for historical, not functional, reasons.

Historical Difference, Not Efficiency

• Differences in utensil use stem from cultural history, rather than food type or function.

• Example:

  • Peas → easier with a spoon, but etiquette says fork.

  • Pizza or fried chicken → hands required, though a fork might be neater.

• These rules reflect body hexis (learned, socially meaningful bodily practices).

Fork History (Europe)

• Before 18th century: Forks rare; diners used knives and hands.

• Medieval Europe: People brought their own knives; no standardized cutlery.

• 18th century shift: Cultural change—not food—drove adoption of forks:

  • Eating with hands = dirty, impolite.

  • Rise of China plates, standardized table settings, and etiquette rules.

• “Fork anxiety”: Modern confusion about which fork to use; reflects class-coded etiquette.

Chopstick History (Asia)

• Older than forks, originating in China.

• 5th century: Population growth and fuel scarcity → food cut into small pieces before cooking → faster cooking, easier to eat with chopsticks.

• No change in diet, but change in food preparation and dining practice.

• Eating involves shared platters, but individual chopsticks — symbolizes individual hygiene and collective sharing.

Hygiene and Disposable Chopsticks (Waribashi)

• 18th century Japan: Rise of disposable wooden chopsticks (Waribashi).

• Emergence of “moral economy of hygiene” — sharing chopsticks seen as unclean.

• Led to massive resource consumption — billions of chopsticks made (often from imported wood).

• Today: Raises sustainability issues tied to cultural norms and body hexis.

Cultural Entanglements of Forks and Chopsticks

• Both utensils reflect historical, not biological differences.

• Each shapes rules of etiquette, bodily movement, and social identity.

• Embeds body hexis (Bourdieu): cultural meanings and selfhood expressed through bodily technique.

• Connects sociomotricity (social coordination of movement) to daily practice.

From “Stuff-and-Cut” to Fork Culture

• Before forks: people used “stuff-and-cut” method — hold meat with teeth, cut with knife.

• This required edge-to-edge bite for gripping food.

• With forks: food pre-cut on plate → less need to use incisors → jaw structure changed.

• Result: Overbite evolved as a bodily adaptation to eating technology.

Chopsticks and Overbite in Asia

• Similar overbite shift also appeared in China.

• Suggests utensil use (forks or chopsticks) alters bodily form through cultural practice.

• Example of culture shaping biology — an embodied, long-term form of enculturation.

Modern Parallel – Touchscreen Generation

• New “eating technology”: hand-held tech (phones, tablets).

• Infants now develop fine-motor habits by interacting with touchscreens.

• Raises questions about how technological hexis (digital gestures, swiping) may reshape motor development and bodily expectations.