Make up and the Social Life of Young Girls

Nowadays, societies are experiencing rapid social changes and growing expansion of consumptive culture, therefore, the human body has became very important, and is the concern of many sociologists. This research attempts to investigate an issue closely related to this domain namely the “make up”. The increasing use of facial make up among young girls has become prevalent. The decreasing age of wearing make up and the relationship between make up and social problems as well as the fact that wearing make up in public contradicts Islamic religious values has turned this issue into a deep social problem. This research tries to answer the following questions: why do girls tend to wear make up? What are the roles of make up in girls’ every day life? The study aims at probing into the reasons behind. The research is conducted through interview based on qualitative method. Two methods are used to select sample population: convenient and Purposive Sampling. The sample consists of 30girls between 18-30 years old (that use make up). Through in-dept interview with the samples, the required data is collected. Having collected the data, they are analyzed through frame analysis. The result of the research demonstrate that, the young girls change their make up with Various environment, sex and kind of viewer, amount and level of communication, Permanency and Impermanency of groups, type of dress and activity. During the interview, they referred to a wide range of reasons for having strong inclination towards wearing make up including social (increase social capital, achieve social opportunities, make up as life style and social conformity), individual (build up identity and ideal self, hide oneself or mask oneself and body as center of power exertion or creativity) and psychological (increase the self-esteem, body satisfaction, change of psychic moods and pleasure and diversity). Findings of this research show that the individual's appearance (as part of their everyday reflexive world) is mainly influenced by various social settings, as if that make up is interwoven with the individual’s life and is controlled and coordinated by it. In general, make up is a type of rational way to achieve the symbolic capital and even to transform it to other kinds of capital such as social and economic capital. In addition, every one through the type of make up they wear can get the physical and symbolic capital and they can also use it to increase their social and economic capital (get job) and even increase their social opportunities. This way they could modify the body. Although, it seems that women are influenced by structural forces, but they are still acting as an active agent, as if they could choose different ways based on their interests.