Identity, Consumption and Ontological Security: Trying to Live on the Edge of the Aesthetic Norm

Tânia Maria De Oliveira Almeida Gouveia,Eduardo André Teixeira Ayrosa

doi:10.1590/1984-9270927

Tânia Maria De Oliveira Almeida Gouveia, Eduardo André Teixeira Ayrosa

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1984-9270927

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Abstract

Abstract The body is an important element in identity management, and its transformations can, to a greater or lesser degree, be related to a reflexive project. Such identity projects are closely related to marketing stimuli, either aligning with or resisting its contents and values to keep a stable and secure identity narrative, building what Giddens (1984; 1991) calls ontological security. The aim of this study is to understand how body-related narratives and practices interact with market stimuli to produce a coherent and ontologically secure "self" that is capable of deviating from the dominant aesthetic standard. Discourse analysis of data indicated four instances that describe how such interaction happens: “struggles with self-demands”, “extreme disciplinary routines”, “self-confidence building”, and “partitions of the body”. Markets provide discursive objects that individuals use to mitigate their problems with deviating from the aesthetic norm, forming coherent narratives and ensuring their ontological security.

Highlights

Conceding to and resisting the aesthetic norm involves the narratives, practices and specific disciplinary routines that are the main objectives of this study: consumption practices related to self-care, and the reflexivity of the individual-consumer as revealed in coherent narrative identities that guarantee their holder a sense of ontological security
Some informants seemed to be confident about themselves and were clear and secure about their social identity, but at other times they revealed a certain vulnerability, indicating concern about what others thought about their appearance or certain habits, not exactly by personal decision, but as something related to the expectations of those who will be called “others,” that is, the look and opinion of other people in particular, or of society as a whole
The plain, uninteresting, or challenging appearance that can be described as stigmatizing (Goffman, 2009) is apparently mitigated here by its fragmentation. It is as if a high value attributed to one fragment of the body could be used as compensation to neutralize a negative bias produced by a weak and difficult overall appearance described by Harmersch and Biddle (1994), and Fikkan and Rothblum (2005). Consistent with authors such as Giddens (1991), Goffman (2009), and Schouten (1991), it was clearly observed that the body is something important in individuals’ idea of themselves, and it is part of their identity construction

Summary

Introduction

Conceding to and resisting the aesthetic norm involves the narratives, practices and specific disciplinary routines that are the main objectives of this study: consumption practices related to self-care, and the reflexivity of the individual-consumer as revealed in coherent narrative identities that guarantee their holder a sense of ontological security. Believing that discourses emanating from the market affect the way individuals see and relate to their own bodies, the aim of this study is to understand how body-related narratives and practices interact with marketing incentives in order to produce a coherent and ontologically secure self that is capable of deviating from the dominant aesthetic norm.

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Conclusion