How bodies are classed: An analysis of clothing and bodily tastes in Turkey

Abstract

This article offers a comprehensive analysis of the consumption domains in which bodies are shaped, dressed and cultivated—drawing on surveys and interviews carried out with women in Ankara, Turkey. Use of multiple correspondence analysis reveals the structuring power of cultural capital and class position and unpacks the nation-specific contents of legitimate and popular taste in embodiment practices. Integrating cluster analysis and respondents’ accounts, the second part of the article identifies different forms of engagement and restraint, which pertain to varying objective conditions of respondents. By taking these relatively less explored consumption domains as its case, the analysis demonstrates the way that privilege remains embodied, even amidst the “postmodern” body culture. The discussion also contributes to our understanding of class cultures in Turkey because it avoids fitting the stratifications into a tradition–modernity duality, which, as Kandiyoti (2002) argues, has been the restraining characteristic of Turkish scholarship.