Applications of modern biotechnology from a perspective of body as a project

Abstract

The primary purpose of this article is to show the place of the body in culture and society as a project from a perspective of modern biotechnology. These considerations fall within the scope of sociology of the body, sociology of culture and cultural anthropology. The understanding of the body crosses the past lines nowadays. According to the reasoning of, among others, Chris Shilling, Honorata Jakubowska, Kate Nettleton or Francis Fukuyama, the completely new functions and boundaries of the body can be found. Body is not only an eternal biological being, but also a social and cultural one. This bodily project pushes an individual to continuously create it and to introduce changes and modifications in the body. Biotechnology, with all its opportunities, is perfectly synchronized with the body project. Next to the body project, the considerations concerning the understanding of the body as the capital and the issues of commodification along with its fragmentation were presented. Based on these considerations, the forms and bodymodifying behaviour were pictured with special regard to biotechnology.

Keywords

• sociology of the body
• biotechnology
• genetic engineering
• commodification of the body
• body modifications
• body as the social capital