جامعه شناسی کاربردی (Apr 2014)
Relationship between Cultural Globalization and Body Management (The Case of Women in Kermanshah
Abstract
Introduction With the appearance of recent developments in modern culture and the globalization trend, and then technologies related to body, body management has become more important than before. The body and its management are cultural subjects related to social values and norms and if the cultural elements change in cultural globalization, the "behaviors" of humans change in this field, too. In fact, the nature of consumption and the nature of body in modern society and globalization era have made the body management behaviors such as make up, diet, aesthetic surgery, etc. are more frequent among women and have made an important social problem. Materials & Methods In this study, a quantitative approach and measurement method was used and the necessary data was collected by using a questionnaire. Research population included the girls and women aged 18 â 65 years old, residing in Kermanshah, of whom 600 individuals were randomly selected as sample size according to Lin's Table. The method was multi-stage quota sampling method. The face validity and construct validity methods (Factor analysis technique) were used to assess the instrument's validity. Discussion of Results & Conclusions According to the findings the two variables of traditional mass media and traditional lifestyle, have no meaningful relationship with body management. Perhaps it can be said that the relationship between traditional mass media and body management is not significant because the former's tools, such as national TV and radio, are directed by governmental and official organizations so they cannot ignore officially accepted cultural norms. Concerning the relationship between traditional lifestyle and body management it seems that people with traditional lifestyle use traditional mass media more so and are not therefore influenced by global messages in relation to the body. On the other hand, the study findings indicate that there is a positive and strong relationship between new informative and communicative technologies with body management. It seems that new informative and communicative mass media are effective on body management due to vast possibilities concerning make-up and fusionism. Even some satellite channels, internet sites and periodicals have been established in relation to body and its management exclusively. Other findings indicate that modern lifestyles have a positive relationship with body management. People who follow modern lifestyles welcome the modern and global measures in relation to bodily beauty because body management is one of the modern lifestyles' elements. Finally, based on multivariable regression findings the four variables of new informative and communicative technologies, modern lifestyle, friendly lifestyle and inspection, were able to explain 52.20 percent of the dependent variable's changes.
