Embodying Acne: Skin, Subjectivity and Dermatological Science
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: An extensive body of literature is dedicated towards understanding acne as either a dermatological or psychological problem. Surprisingly, scholars have yet to write critically or sociologically about a skin disease which affects an estimated 600 million people worldwide. As such, I bring together continental philosophies of the skin/body, science and technology studies, and sociological literature on health and illness to produce an embodied sociology of acne. I argue that pimpled skin becomes meaningful through dynamic interactions between science and culture, forming new epidermal identities and solidarities I term “dermosocialities.” I examine the ways dermosocialities are organized through acne, and begin to analyze some of the political, cultural and scientific consequences of dermosocial collectivization. Altogether, a sociology of acne highlights the need to think about the contemporary relationship between skin and self as medicalized, managed and experienced through an emerging class of skin experts, discourses, practices and objects.
Author: R. Scott Carey
Language: English
Subfield: Dermatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2611321430