Critically evaluate the importance of understanding the body at work, paying particular
attention to the experiences of women and disabled people. (Embodiment and lookism)
Introduction
In this fast-moving world where attention to detail is a factor of utmost significance, the
importance of considering the body at work and putting in mind the experience of the women
and the disabled people has contrasting views. There has been a good deal of academic interest
in the past years on the practices of discrimination on the foundations of appearances in the
environment of work. The recent reports and studies have found numerous evidences regarding
the impact of appearance on the career and occupation of an individual. Consumer discrimination
and the increased productivity are the two major factors that are the rewards of appearance in
many renowned organizations. According to the study on the beauty and globalization, Geoffrey
Jones (2011) concluded that the increased augmentation of the global market of beauty is directly
related with the wave of globalization. However, there is still some literature regarding the
understanding of how both the phenomena of globalization and lookism vary in different in
various cultures that could ultimately impact the working conditions.
To better understand the terminology and the science behind the importance of the body
at work, we need to understand the basic terms that come along with it, i.e. what is body at work,
embodiment, and lookism?
Body at work
There are several theories and philosophies that have tried their chance in defining the
term body at work. Many individuals mix the term body at work with another term body of
work, which are quite contrasting. Much of the literature defines the body at work by dividing it
in two broad categories or simply calling it the dualism of body and mind. A renowned
philosopher namely Cartesian also took an opportunity to research about the body at work and
presenting his views correlating with the theories of mind-body dualism. The theory of dualism
of mind and body in the rawest form could be defined as the view that the body and mind are
contrasting matters in the nature. Usually called dualism, the theory presents that not only the
meaning of the terms body and mind is different but also difference of the entities. Along these
lines, a mind body (substance) dualist would contradict any hypothesis that distinguishes mind
with the brain, considered as an actual instrument. Another study was conducted regarding the
body at work by Jon Hindmarsh who argued that despite the growing mass of research regarding
the body and its relative relationship with the organization, there is still lack of considering the
embodiment in the workplace. In his study of the teamwork in preoperative anesthesia, he
offered an idea that would analyze the body that focuses on practical orientation not only to the
body but also in the workplace of the organizational members. In order to signify the value of
body at work, they considered the coordination among different teams at work. Conversation and
ethno-methodological approach were taken in order to draw the analytic orientation (Hindmarsh
and Pilnick, 2007).
Embodiment in the workplace
Embodiment is a broad term that has been described by several philosophers as the
impact of physical body over the overall mental behavior of an individual. It is fundamentally
possessing and acing through a physical demonstration. Embodiment has raised several queries
over what shapes the body and there has been several researches in the aim of the defining and
contrasting between the body that we possess and the body we can exercise agency
upon(Marlowe et al, 1996). It is unanticipated to see that the embodiment has been playing a
very rapidly increasing role in the philosophy of mind recently. There has been a very strong
debate over if the body actually shapes the mind and whether there exists any truth in that
statement. Most of the philosophers believe that the humans are a product of the evolutionary
process and that the origin of species has a very important value not only in the regard of the
biological heritage but also with the conditioning of the culture and of its existence. However,
the distinction between the bodies that we have and bodies that we represent is still in the
questions to be answered (Kelan, 2013). Many papers have analyzed the problem and the
paradoxes of embodying diversity of organizations. Some of the papers have also researched
over how diversity becomes a commitment that needs those who embrace or embody the
diversity express joy and appreciation. The very fundamental evidence of the embodiment can be
witnessed with the arrival of employees in the organization. The embodiment of diversity can
mean to be under pressure not to talk about racism and other conventional social portfolios. This
embodiment raises another issue that is mostly known as the beauty gap. The longitudinal data
suggests that being attractive is directly related to receiving direct rewards and appreciations.
Understanding Lookism
Again, as the name suggests, lookism is basically the discrimination of the individuals on
the basis of their physical appearance. This is also because there are several theories that educate
the idea that attractiveness is directly correlated with the level of intellect of an individual. That
means that people with attractive physical features are likely to have anattractive inner brain
system i.e. have higher intellect. A proper research study to examine whether the claims that
physical beauty affects the employment ratio and other fringe benefits are true or not was carried
out by Cherea Hammer that concluded that physical beauty in some way or another impacts the
outcomes of the employment(Hammer, 2017). This sort of discrimination was considered much
ranging in prominent employment factors. It is majorly seen in the corporate sector that attractive
men and women are highly preferred over others because the face of organization plays a very
significant role in branding the organization (Harper, 2000). Thus, expertise in the managerial
sector has become severely irrelevant in comparison with the attractiveness (Marlowe et al,
1996). Moreover, the idea of lookism is also presented by several theories including the theory of
erotic capital that entails the significance of the physical appearance of an individual in different
social contacts. There could not be more admiration of the philosopher idea that the theories
based on physical appearance shall be accepted base of all other theories (Hakim, 2012).
The importance of understanding the body at work, paying particular attention to the
experiences of women and disabled people
There is a rising significance of adopting and accepting the ideas of understanding the
body at work and paying proper attention to the experiences of women and disabled people at
work. The body at work could be understood with the theories of dualism in reference to the
lookism as both the concepts are quite contradicting and require sophisticated analysis to reach a
conclusion. However, in order to remain consistent with the global ideologies and aligning with
the ideas those are rapidly being adopted by the organizations, one need to intensively
understand the idea of body at work and embodiment. Many renowned businesses have showed
the encouragement towards the adoption and manipulation of the appearances and physical
outlook to get the right look and showcase the face of the brand in the perfect essence. Moreover,
the issue regarding the significance of attentiveness towards the experiences of women and
disabled people is still in hot debate. Even though there has been drastic change in the
experiences of women in the workplace but there are still issues that remain questioned in the
workplace environments (Kelan, 2013).
Flexible work arrangement (FWA) is one of the triggering issues that women face during
their work time. It is basically the coordination of managing their personal priorities with their
work demands. Equal pay in comparison with men and racism are another set of issues that
women in every workforce have to deal with. Numerous surveys have been taken throughout the
globe that identify issues of women in the workforce and still getting paid equally to men is the
raging issue found commonly. Finally, the entitlement men receive due to having proper career
opportunities with respect to women is a crucial problem. Moreover, in respect to the experience
of the disabled people, there is still huge gap to be filled in order to make them the essential part
of workplace or at least providing them equal opportunities. Despite comprising the 15% of the
world population, there is high underrepresentation of the disabled people in the workplace
environment. Even in the literature and academic, there are cannot be found a lot of papers in
relation to the disabled person and their experiences in the workforce. The study of person with
disabilities’ experience is intriguing in the very own right, however these studies offer insights to
acknowledge the familiarity of the disabled and their treatment in the workforce (Agmon et al,
2016). Moreover, people those are debarred from the sense of visibility have not much of their
part in the lookism and other related phenomena. This not only decreases their chance of
recruitment but even after getting employed on the sympathy basis, they are not valued as
everyone else due to their lack of understanding of the lookism and embodiment. Moreover, all
the disabilities lead to the issue of emotional labor that has been linked with several job-related
negative behaviors having adverse impact not only on the individual but also on the organization
as whole affecting the customer experience and facing challenges themselves. A study conducted
by Da Yee Jeung concluded that emotional labor leads to the burnout of an individual and
analysis of some personality traits is required to evaluate the relationship between emotional
labor and relevant consequences (Yeung, 2018).
Conclusion
Embodiment, lookism and understanding the body at work are all related philosophies
that need to analyzed and evaluated properly to come to the conclusion whether the theories have
any truth in them and where these hypothesis can be considered insightful or not. However, the
experience so women and the disabled people are the issues that needs to be pondered upon and
thus working over the improvement of the stigma could enhance the lives of people.
Works cited
Agmon, M., Sa’ar, A. and Araten-Bergman, T. (2016). The person in the disabled body: a
perspective on culture and personhood from the margins. International Journal for Equity
in Health, [online] 15(1). Available at:
https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-016-0437-2.
Hammer, C. (2017). A Look into Lookism: An Evaluation of Discrimination Based on Physical
Attractiveness. Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. [online] Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/207/.
Harper, B. (2000). Beauty, Stature and the Labour Market: A British Cohort Study. Oxford
Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62(s1), pp.771–800.
Hindmarsh, J. and Pilnick, A. (2007). Knowing Bodies at Work: Embodiment and Ephemeral
Teamwork in Anaesthesia. Organization Studies, 28(9), pp.1395–1416.
Kelan, E.K. (2013). The becoming of business bodies: Gender, appearance, and leadership
development. Management Learning, 44(1), pp.45–61.
Marlowe, C.M., Schneider, S.L. and Nelson, C.E. (1996). Gender and attractiveness biases in
hiring decisions: Are more experienced managers less biased? Journal of Applied
Psychology, 81(1), pp.11–21.