Sociological Explication of Body Management and its Relation with Social and Cultural Factors in Girls and Women in Tabriz City

At present time, body has become significantly important due to growth of consumption culture and the mass media. One of the raised issues in the field of body sociology is body management; an issue which has received considerable attention by girls and women. By changing their physical appearance, individuals make social construction of body. The present research studies social and cultural factors affecting the emergence of this phenomenon considering theories of Bourdieu, Giddens, Featherstone, Turner, and Goffman. The study is a survey-based one and the data was collected through a questionnaire made by the researcher. The population sample consisted of 530 girls and women in Tabriz ranging from 15 to 45 in age, in the year 1391. Multistage sampling method was used, and the results indicate that there are direct relationships between the variables of social acceptance, feeling social pressures, cultural capital, occupation status, marriage status, social class, use of the foreign mass media and body management. There are indirect relationships between religiosity and use of the foreign mass media variables and body management. The mentioned variables could explicate 41% of body management changes.