Chapter 14
Research about Enforcement of
Sanctions
From the headlines
Which measurements represent real
people?
Experts on body shapes and sizes
Analyze data of the human body for use
In clothing sizing
Furniture
Technology
Buildings
Collect data from 3-dimensional body
scans
Survey of 5000 people
Shopping for clothing is difficult
Finding clothes that fit was biggest
problem
Differing sizes by style and brand
Shopping is time-consuming
Have to try on everything
Data have potential to help development
of clothing sizes that match trends in body
sizes
Shopping for clothing is difficult
Attempts to enforce sanctions in
everyday life are revealed in:
Feelings of pressure to conform
Peer pressure
Internalization
Efforts by violators to comply with the
norm
Complaints about enforcement or nonenforcement
Active efforts to resist enforcement
Complacency
Feelings of pressure to conform
Questions to answer
How does the enforcement of sanctions relate to
the process of social control?
What is the nature of research related to the
enforcement of sanctions?
What research methods are used to investigate
the enforcement of sanctions?
What tools are used to collect data for research
about the enforcement of sanctions?
Body modifications
Alterations to the body itself
Temporary (e.g., weight loss, age)
Semi-permanent (e.g., hair color)
Permanent (e.g., breast augmentation)
Efforts to enforce sanctions related to the
normative body can encourage people to
undertake temporary, semi-permanent, or
permanent body modifications
Temporary body modification: Weight
Obesity is a norm violation
Obesity—weighing a certain % more than
“normal” (e.g., 20% above normal weight)
Obese are negatively defined by weight
Judged as responsible for the obesity
Deterred from social interaction
Experience sanctions, e.g., finger-pointing,
shame, ridicule
Judged as responsible for the obesity
Interviews of 15 obese women
Negative sanctions during childhood
Derision
Castigation
Ostracism
Alienation
Name-calling
Nicknames
Teasing
Emotional reactions to sanctions
Hurt
Anger
Resentment
Frustration
Loneliness
Stigmatization
Cultural appearance norms
Had been internalized +
Sanctions of significant others
Saliency of norm violation
Excess weight – most salient physical
characteristic of obese women
Violation of norm is immediately apparent
to others
Not consciously aware of how large they
were until
Reflection in mirror
Picture
Reflection in mirror
Low self-esteem
Described themselves as “Overweight”
Ugly
Guilty
Depressed
Stupid
Still dieted and tried to lose weight
Feeling guilty and out of control
High self-esteem
Felt good about themselves
Described themselves as “Obese”
Educational and professional
accomplishments
High
self-esteem
Result of attempts to enforce sanctions
Acquiescence (conformity) to appearance
norms
Negative self-image
Low self-esteem
Resistance to (refusal to accept)
appearance norms
Positive self-images
High self-esteem
Temporary body modification: Age
22 women aged 61 to 92 interviewed
Beauty synonymous with youthfulness and
slimness
Ageist beauty norm
How do older women cope with effects of aging
on
body image
embodied experiences
relationship between identity and body image
Embodied—giving tangible or visible form to
something abstract, e.g., personal or social
identity
Double standard—Physical signs of
aging are worse for women than men
Body image
Perceptions and feelings about the body
Perceptual component
Attitudinal component
How we perceive our bodies
How we feel about our bodies
Body image is a mental picture created by
the interaction of many factors
Body image—perceptions and feelings
about the body
Weight concerns women of all ages
Normal for women to gain weight as they
age
Longitudinal study of older people
Over a number of years
Women’s greatest concern was memory loss
2nd greatest concern—weight changes
Men were not concerned about weight
Normal for women to gain weight as they age
Weight concerns women of all ages
Descriptions of older women’s bodies
Ugly
Sagging
Yuck
Disaster
Awful
Evidence of internalization of cultural
beauty norms
the waist and
abdomen lose
their shape”
Loss of physical beauty
Unavoidable
Part of a natural aging process
Outside of their control
Attitudes
Negative attitudes toward their
appearance
Importance of being healthy and
independent
Triviality of emphases on appearance
Primacy of good health over physical
attractiveness
Sense of loss about what they could do
Loss of health, mobility, energy
Triviality of emphases on appearance
Current fashions & fashion models
Represent extreme and unattractive role
models for young women
Not an influence for these older women
Weight gain the cause of self-criticism and
monitoring
Extreme and unattractive role models
Weight gain
Moral failure
Lack of discipline
Due to personal choices
Personal responsibility
Expressed concern about weight gain
Negative sentiments about their weight
Dieted
Resistance to enforcement of sanctions-shift in priorities
Health
Freedom from disease
Freedom from chronic illness
Freedom from declining energy
Function
More important than physical
attractiveness
Healthy people are attractive people
Contradiction
Women acknowledged inevitability of the
natural life cycle and changes that
accompany aging
Rejected cultural beauty norms
But they had negative body images
If older women do not aspire to cultural
beauty norms, why are their body images
not more positive?
Semi-permanent body modification:
Hair color
Naturally blonde women interviewed
16% of U.S. females born blonde
5% remain naturally blonde as adults
Brown hair is the norm
Blonde women are both positive and
negative deviants
Positive deviance
Behaviors or conditions that both
Over conform to the norms and
Are positively appraised
Violation of a norm
Positive deviance
Negative deviance
Behaviors or conditions that
under conform, or fail to conform, to
normative expectations
subsequently receive negative evaluations
Violation of a norm
Blonde women
Positive deviants—receive positive
evaluations for exceeding normative
appearance expectations
Negative deviants—receive negative
evaluations and negative treatment
Numerous stereotypes about blondes
Blondes are treated differently than
women with other hair colors
Positive and
negative deviance
Twenty blonde women
Experiences of being blonde as a
Child
Adolescent
Adult
Blonde stereotypes
Positives & negatives of being blonde
Cultural definition of hair attractiveness
Reactions of others to blonde hair
Cultural advantages for blondes
Blonde is a beauty
standard
Disproportionately
represented in
appearance-based
occupations
Positive responses
were common
Cultural stereotypes
Innocence–depicted as angels, saints, etc.
Sexy/fun—”blondes have more fun”
Easy—”sex kitten”
Dumb—”dumb blonde” “ditzy blonde”
Dumb blonde
stereotype
Coping Strategies
Ignore remarks or return joke
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Overcompensate
Fight back
Become a member of the dominant group
Relationships with other women negatively
affected by their attractiveness & hair
color
Permanent body modification: Elective
mammoplasty – Gagne & McGaughey
In-depth interviews with 15 women who
had elective mammoplasty
Breast augmentation, breast reduction, or
corrective surgery on the breasts
All wanted to achieve normalcy
Plastic surgery
Permanent body
modification
Sources of the norm
Ideals generated by the media
Observations of other women
Perceptions of men’s observations of
themselves and other women
Cosmetic surgery
Seen as a means of developing an
embodied self with which they were
comfortable
Congruency between mind and body
Prompted people to treat them in the way
they perceived themselves
Self-confidence increased
Hegemony
Control or influence by one group (e.g.,
men) over another (e.g., women)
Changing one’s body to fit hegemonic
(i.e., male) ideals of attractiveness has
potential to
Improve social opportunities
Improve life at work
command greater respect
better able to compete
Hegemonic ideals
Permanent body modification
More fashion options
Greater control over clothing choices
Social factors influenced decision
The media
Women’s magazines
Movies
Television programs
The fashion industry
Clothing mass-produced for “normal” sizes
Norm is thin and proportionate
Before surgery
Used bras to maximize, minimize, or modify
Techniques to draw attention to or away from
their breasts
Techniques to draw attention toward more
attractive parts of their body
Wore oversize blouses, T-shirts, and
sweatshirts to disguise their breasts
Clothing did not offer a solution to their
problem
Baggy clothes, oversized T-shirts and
sweatshirts
After surgery
Changed their wardrobes
Accommodate changed body proportions
Include items they had longed to wear
Hegemonic gaze—sense that individual
women have that everyone is looking at
them
Feel discomfort if they fail to meet the
cultural beauty norm
Hegemonic gaze
Body supplements—items placed on the
body by:
Wrapping item around the body
Suspending item from the body
Wearing pre-shaped items
Inserting items into the body
Clipping item to the body
Adhering item to the body
Holding or carrying the item
Dress has ambiguous meanings
A message that can be understood in
more than one way
It is not clear which meaning is intended
Incorrect interpretation of the message is
always possible
Aesthetic rules
Social rules
Cultural customs
What does
this dress
mean?
Uncertainty caused by ambiguous dress
meanings is revealed in
Efforts to keep school regulations current with
changing styles
Inconsistency in enforcing rules
Conformity with letter but not spirit of the rules
Use of dress to deliberately cause a reaction
Use of dress to demonstrate group affiliation
Deliberate failure to understand meaning
Presumption that meanings are unambiguous
Context-dependency of dress meanings
Ridicule in a school context
Peer pressure as expressed in ridicule
Used to belittle and exclude
Those who did not fit in with the group
Adolescents responded to ridicule by
Doing nothing
Concealing stigmatized objects
More closely watching what their peers wore
Seeking safe havens
Defending unpopular choices
Adopting popular objects
Ridicule
Observing or experiencing ridicule
Influenced
Purchase
Use
Discard
Of possessions
Ridicule affected purchase decisions
Learned which items were associated
with:
Avoidance groups—groups to stay away
from
Aspirational groups—groups in which one
would like to become a member
Conformed because of
Feelings of inadequacy
Concerns about belonging
Symbolic meanings of athletic shoes
30 children, aged 8 to 12, from poor
homes
Stereotypes about owners of athletic
shoes
Expensive brand name—owner young and rich
Inexpensive unbranded—owner old and poor
Child who wore branded athletic shoes
Popular
Fit in with peers
Preferred to talk to
Symbolic
meanings of
athletic shoes
Attempts to enforce sanctions revealed
In peer pressure
To wear athletic shoes their friends wore
To make friends and fit in
To avoid teasing
Strongest influence on children is their
peer group
Influence starts as early as age 6
Becomes more important during
adolescence
Become aware of peers’ favorite products
Consider these preferences when making
their own consumer choices, esp. symbolic
consumer products such as dress
Peer group influence
Enforcement of sanctions
Children feared their peers
Would refuse to be friends with them
Would bully them
If they did not fit in by wearing right
brand
Enforcement of sanctions
Harassment
Threats of being beaten up
Bullying
Picking on
Not talking to someone
Embarrassed to be seen with someone
Children’s awareness of brand names
Brand awareness—ability to identify the
brand under different conditions. Includes
Brand recognition—correctly identify a brand
as being previously seen or heard
Brand recall—ability to remember the brand
when provided with a cue
5 and 6 year olds were aware of brands
9 to 11 year olds had more sophisticated
level of awareness
Enforcement of sanctions for violation
of dress codes—Garot & Katz’ study
Prohibit an embodied way of being
Appearance is a central concern of youth
Devote resources
Significance of subtle details
Variety and innovativeness of appearance
Creative appearance derives from youth culture
Self-regulating logic independent of school
concerns
Significance of
subtle details
Enforcement of dress code
Common topic of conversation
School employees do not understand
meanings of student dress
Look for something tangible to regulate
Issues of power and obedience
Many people involved—administrators,
teachers, students, parents, other adults
Issues of power and obedience
Enforcement implies character traits of
the enforcer
Feelings or sensibility
Kindness or meanness
Sympathetic or not
Non-enforcement noted by peers and
other students
Dress codes affect school culture
When rules are enforced
When exceptions are granted
When uncertainties are debated
Evolution of youth styles
Rules change frequently
Rules are frequently overlooked
Evolution of youth styles
Students use details of dress to:
Elicit a response from others
Create a self that responds to others’
responses
Create a unique appearance
Students choose their dress with their
peers in mind, not school authorities
Students use dress to create a unique appearance
Enforcement of dress norms among
refugee women
Agency—action, medium, or means by
which something is accomplished
Data collected as part of ethnographic
case study of a Bosnian Muslim settlement
Extensive participant observations and
interviews with 14 women
In Bosnia
Muslim women wore elaborate styles
Hair
Dress
Makeup
Emphasized femininity
Bosnian woman in Sarajevo
In Vermont
Adopted some local dress practices
Jeans
Less elaborate makeup
More casual clothing for everyday wear
Ambivalent and critical of norms for
women’s dress in U.S.
Refugee women
Had new audiences
Increased range of permissible dress
Changes in structure of everyday life
Resistance to U.S. dress norms
Means to communicate a group identity
Means to create that group identity for
themselves
Dress communicates nonverbally
Meanings change over time and space
Meanings do not always translate easily
from one location to another
May interpret in new location according to
Dress language of previous location
Dress language of recent past
Repeated interactions result in challenges
to or modifications of dress norms from
the past
Dress practices
Rooted in history and culture
Actively enforced in social interaction
Social sanctions used to enforce and
perpetrate women’s dress codes
Dress code enforcers—older women who
used social disapproval, shame, gossip
Encouraged and monitored feminine dress
Internalized mechanisms
Self-discipline
Self-surveillance
Panoptic view—all-inclusive view
Disciplinary gaze directed upon the self
Women’s dress practices attributed to:
Habit
Repetition
Enforcement by dress code enforcers
Changes to dress practices
Brought about by a changed context
New exigencies (urgent necessities)
New routines
New meanings of dress
Wider range of dress options
New dress code enforcers
