How are beauty standards socially shaped? To what extent, and how, do evaluations of beauty demarcate social divides, within or across countries? This presentation analyzes social differences in the evaluation of the beauty of female and male faces and bodies in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. Combining Q-methodology and open interviews (N = 150), it presents a quantifiable comparative measurement of ‘beauty tastes’, and a qualitative analysis of the underlying ‘repertoires of evaluation’.
Giselinde Kuipers is a Professor of Cultural Sociology and Chair of the Sociology department at the University of Amsterdam. Professor Kuipers has published widely in the fields of cultural sociology, the sociology of humor, media studies, and cultural globalization and transnational culture. Much of this research is comparative: Kuipers has done research in several European countries (the Netherlands, France, Italy and Poland) as well as the US. In 2006, she published Good Humor, Bad Taste: A Sociology of the Joke, comparing Dutch and American humor styles. A revised edition of this book has appeared in 2015.
In 2010, Giselinde Kuipers started a new 5-year research project called " towards="" a="" comparative="" sociology="" of="" beauty:="" the="" transnational="" modeling="" industry="" and="" social="" shaping="" beauty="" standards="" in="" six="" european="" countries",="" which="" was="" funded="" with="" an="" starting="" grant="" from="" research="" council="" (erc).="" for="" more="" information,="" see="" www.sociologyofbeauty.nl