The effective sociological factors on body modification among Tehranian women

Body is center of many debates in sociology during last decades. Sociologists believe that human body is a project of identity. It seems that women pay more attention to their body; therefore, this study investigated the effective factors on body modification of Tehranian women. Body modification includes weight control, cosmetic services, using medicines and creams, and medical services. Among the theories of body modification, theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, and Brayan Turner were selected as the theoretical framework of this research; then research model and hypothesis were extracted. The statistical population was all of the Tehranian women at the age range of 22-44 years. Using multi-stage cluster sampling method, 384 women were selected. A researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection. The results of the study showed that body modification can have a significant relationship with consumerism, media consumption, personal identity, social class and age. Moreover, nearly 47% of body modification changes were explained by “consumerism”, 7% by “media consumption”, and 12% by “personal identity”. The results showed that the age group of 25-35 years has the highest practice of body modification. Furthermore, “social class” showed a positive significant relationship with body modification. According to the theories of Giddens, Bourdieu and Turner, it can be concluded that modernity and its components consumerism, hegemony of media, and identification influences the body modification of Tehranian women