Skin-deep Symbols. The up side of politics and the down side of politicization in the French Midi (1814-1851). From 1814 to 1851, marking bodies and clothes constituted a specific way of exhibiting one’s political partisanship. Such marks found a priviledged terrain for expression in Southern France where the richness of folklore and traditions of radicalism often gave it a spectacular character. This self politicization was expressed in multiple ways : tatoos, colors, floral symbols… After an inventory of their forms, the article will re-examine the signification of these signs as a way of trying to understand the question of the politicization of popular classes and women. Throughout the period, and more specifically during political crises, self politicization appeared as a stage in the affirmation of the individual within societies that were still marked by the weight of communal identities, and as one of the manners of constructing a national political space.