2. Literature Review
2.1. The importance of beauty – social capital and the beauty premium
2.1.2. Beauty ideals
2.1.2.1. Western beauty ideal
2.1.2.1.2. Physique and body type
As a counterargument for the mainstream Western idea of beauty Romm also argued that – already 30 years ago when that article was published- “striking and distinctive faces” were appearing in the fashion and beauty industry, suggesting that there is no one look that is beautiful, making both the editors and consumers more tolerant towards a more diverse idea of what a beautiful face might look like. Yet again, she emphasizes that there is a reason behind the beauty standards and the changes in them over time, explaining how they are following the social structures and lifestyles of the society (Romm, 1987). An often cited study from 1994 also concluded that today there are multiple ideals of beauty present
“reflecting the proliferation of lifestyles, cultures and ethnic groups” (Englis, Solomon &
Ashmore, 1994, p.52.) in Western societies, which results from today’s globalization and the diversification of the society.
2.1.2.1.2. Physique and body type
Another salient feature is physique. It is commonly known that in both Western and Eastern societies there is currently a very thin ideal, as Millard’s above cited study describes it as well, and as we can see simply by looking at advertisement from the mass media from either Western or Eastern countries. As Knobloch-Westerwick also concludes the results of a content analysis of magazines: “female models who are thin and conform to cultural standards of beauty dominate media portrayals” (Knobloch-Westerwick, 2015, p.1090).
At least concerning Western women, a slim and fit body has an even deeper meaning – because genetically a skinny stature is not as common for women in the West as it is for those from Asia. Therefore most of the times Western women have to work really hard, put in a lot of time, energy and effort to reach their goal body, thus looking fit also symbolizes the health and discipline of the woman, which makes the look even more attractive (Millard, 2009).
Furthermore, nowadays in the 21st century, in contrast to decades and centuries ago, when food shortage was a common problem in Europe, being fat or overweight suggests poor health conditions and lower economic status, while a slender and fit figure has become an indicator for wealth or at least a relatively higher economic spending (Toselli, Rinaldo & Gualdi-Russo, 2016).
Citing previous research study results Monteath and McCabe write that since the standard and pursued body type, which is supported in the West is thin, ectomorph; strong negative stereotypes are common for overweight people and fat bodies, suggesting that someone with
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excess body fat is simply bad. As a result, they add, studies showed that higher Body Mass Index (BMI) values typically result in higher body dissatisfaction (Monteath & McCabe, 1997).
It is interesting to note that this slim body ideal is disseminated through the media such as magazines saliently more to women than to men: citing Andersen and DiDomenico’s 1992 study Monteath and McCabe point out that in a study examining popular magazines it was found that articles concerning body weight and topics related to it (such as diet, weight management, etc.) were found 10.5 times more in women’s magazines than in men’s, concluding that this is one of the main reasons why women in the West are so prone to chasing a thin body ideal (Monteath & McCabe, 1997).
As quoting the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology Chris Lowe also writes, this modern ideal of female beauty results in “a schema that integrates three fundamental components: idealization of slenderness and leanness, an irrational fear of fat, and a conviction that weight and shape are central determinants of one’s identity.” (Lowe, 2017, emphasis added) The statement of this modern experience underlines the enormous –and often negative- effect and significance these thin body ideals have on Western women.
Studies –not surprisingly- have also proven that as a result of these ideals, body dissatisfaction is a common problem that concerns many women in the West, suggesting that
“feeling fat is an everyday part of life; consequently, many women turn to chronic dieting as a solution” (Monteath & McCabe, 1997, p. 710). A study conducted by Monteath and McCabe showed that what women perceived as the body shape that society expects from women to have turned out to be even slimmer than what they personally expected from themselves, although they did realize they were extreme and as a result their personal ideals were somewhere between this perceived societal ideal and their realistic current body (Monteath &
McCabe, 1997).
However, due to the changing society’s effects on the beauty and body ideals, this extremely slim standard seems to be changing now. Quoting a beauty pageant organizer Balogun writes that since even the Western girls cannot fit into these extreme body ideals, might they be average girls or even runway models and beauty queens, we can see even these women in the spotlight “becoming bigger, with rounder butts”, signifying the change in both the Western and global/international standards for the perfect body (Balogun, 2012).
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2.1.2.2. East Asian beauty ideal
As Hungarian culture and beauty ideals are just one mode of the broader Western culture, further shaped by unique experiences and interactions with other countries, the Taiwanese culture and ideas of beauty also only constitute one variation of Easter Asian culture and beauty. Furthermore, while Hungary is located in Europe surrounded by other European regional players only, Taiwan is located in East Asia and thus will not only have to interpret and make sense of the certain Western influences culturally, but also of other East Asian powers as well, making it a unique case different from other East Asian countries. Therefore although there are certain similarities to the East Asian stereotypical, general ideas about beauty, which are going to be discussed below, Taiwanese will still interpret the impact of both the Western and Asian global cultural powers differently regarding beauty ideals – the discussion of which the currently existing literature lacks, and which therefore this present research aims to explore.
2.1.2.2.1. Skin tone and face
As opposed to the West, people in East Asian countries such as Taiwan favor pale, white porcelain skin, which, as mentioned above, goes back to the ideals hundreds years ago (Li, Min, Belk, Kimura, Bahl, 2008). At those times, wealthy women who didn’t need to go and work out on the fields had a much whiter skin than their poor, working counterparts – thus in East Asian cultures, pale, white skin represents wealth and an upper class lifestyle and has become the desirable look. The logic behind the Eastern and the previously mentioned Western perceptions is really similar, however while the Western ideal reflects the modern lifestyle, the Eastern ideal reaches back to the lives of people centuries ago.
Regarding the look of the face, the lately hugely popular surgery trends and numerous studies researching this phenomenon have showed that women in East Asia, being fixated on the Western ideas of beauty and their ‘exotic’ look, presumably prefer a more Westernized face and look to their own, nature-given Asian characteristics. Rosemary Righter writes about how Asian women are willing to purposely ‘Westernize’ their faces – including altering their natural almond-like eye shapes and aiming for a foreigner-like 高鼻子 (Gāo bízi; meaning high nose) (Righter, 2003; Tomb, 2010). This phenomenon is not quite surprising, considering that as Grosse also stated, reviewing previous studies there has been a change in
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the values of East Asian and in particular Taiwanese people, from traditional to a more liberal, Western-like approach (Grosse, 2016).
2.1.2.2.2. Physique and body type
A research study conducted by Crittenden in 1991 showed that Taiwanese young women were respecting and looking up to traditional Asian ideals such as feminine modesty, delicacy and discreetness. The author explained it with cultural reasons as these Taiwanese women were seemingly conforming to traditional Chinese cultural values as well as the gender stereotypes this culture and their society were exposing on them (Crittenden, 1991).
It is also interesting to highlight that the focus regarding beauty might be also quite different in these certain cultures. Frith, Shaw and Cheng published a study where they conducted a cross-cultural analysis of women’s magazine advertising, comparing magazines from the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan and they found that while it was the body that was mostly emphasized in the American magazines, their Asian counterparts had their focus rather on the face. The authors also cite previous studies that suggested that this might be due to historical reasons: female figures have often appeared in Western art creations, since the beginning of time – however in Eastern, Chinese art it was mostly the nature and not certain human figures that were in focus. (Frith, Shaw & Cheng, 2005)
Furthermore, a research study examining sexuality and female role portrayal in Taiwanese print ads also found that there is a decreased level of ‘physical innuendo and nudity patterns’
in print advertisement in the country compared to the West and to Taiwan before – which might yet again underline the focus regarding beauty and attractiveness not being on the female body –or at least retrieving from it- or as the author concludes: that modern Taiwanese women would like to escape the stereotypes of being property-like objects in a dominantly male society and thus would like to emphasize other than bodily characteristics in the pursuit of attractiveness (Lin, 2007).
Even though the focus in East Asian and Taiwanese beauty standards might be or might have been on the face, having a fragile, slender, thin body ideal has been and is significant in this East Asian society and its traditions, independently from possible Western influences (Barnett, Keel, & Conoscenti, 2001). However, it is interesting to note that even though this ideal has been apparent for many decades and centuries it might be a recent development that
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people place such significance on it, leading them to change their behaviors in order to conform to these ideals. A study written by Pike and Dunne in 2015 conducted about eating disorders that also inspects Taiwan points out that previous research results showed, that eating disorders –usually motivated by trying to conform to thin body ideals- did not use to be common around Taiwan – it is only nowadays that EDs are becoming more common, especially amongst the younger generations that are the most exposed to Western media and the pressure of the modern, Westernized consumerist culture (Pike & Dunne, 2015).
Another research conducted in 2002 by Cachelin, Rebeck, Chung and Pelayo about the influence ethnicity might have on body size preference, also concluded that Asian women tend to be less dissatisfied with their own bodies, due to their current body size being closer to their ideal, than their Caucasian, Afro-American or Hispanic counterparts –which again underlines that their focus of ideal beauty the determinant of their body image might be the facial characteristics rather than their body type, weight, etc. (Cachelin, Rebeck, Chung, &
Pelayo, 2002).
2.2. Cultural globalization and the convergence of beauty ideals
Globalization is a process that is and has been undeniably shaping many spheres of our lives for decades now: it influences the economic, social and cultural aspects of the lives of modern persons. In this chapter we are going to take an in-depth look at what globalization is commonly identified or confused with, namely cultural imperialism or Westernization and its critiques; then actually elaborate on globalization itself, focusing on its cultural aspects. The end of the chapter is going to discuss how globalization might form our use of modern communication technologies and how all that may shape one’s body image and perceived beauty ideals.
2.2.1. Cultural imperialism or Westernization and its critique
A rather false but still to this day commonly used interpretation of the globalization processes is what we can call cultural imperialism or Westernization. The idea behind the concept is that it is the Western, mostly American capitalist consumerist culture that spreads all around the world due to the increased connectivity, the global telecommunication and the decreasing costs and difficulty of travel. John Tomlinson, a key author of cultural
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leading the world towards a uniform, global culture with the spread of the –already mentioned- Western, American capitalist culture will reach and take over every corner of the world, threatening all other, different cultures and traditions. However, in his work Tomlinson warns that ‘what globalization is clearly not doing, […] is effortlessly installing Western culture as global culture” (Tomlinson, 2012, p 356).
As later Colin Sparks explains, the concepts of media and cultural imperialism actually emerged back in the 1970s and the most defining author on the topic was Herbert Schiller and his work from 1976 in which he defined cultural imperialism as:
“…the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system (Schiller, 1976, p. 9, emphasis added).”
Sparks highlights that the conception Schiller outlines is very broad and shares the conceptual framework with the imperialism theory’s core and periphery model, placing the United States of America in the center. In his criticism of Schiller’s concept Sparks warns that it neglects the importance of regional processes –giving the examples of television production, pointing out how the television industries of South Korea or Japan has been acting as serious drivers for regional markets in East Asia due to cultural proximity –which we will mention and discuss again later on (Sparks, 2012).
Confirming the critiques of Tomlinson, Sparks also elaborates on how it is an irrational presumption and fear that this one specific Western/American culture would take over ‘single national cultures’ developing one unified global culture based on the values and structures of the American culture. He reminds the readers that “every existing society, even the most successful and developed modern states, exhibits plurality of cultures, very often themselves a combination of earlier influences from “outside”” (Sparks, 2012, p. 285) yet again reaffirming that it is not the case that there would be single national cultures threatened by and standing against the overwhelming American culture.
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In the end Sparks concludes that looking at the increasingly globalized world and the processes under way in the economy, societies and culture there should not be one center marked and instead of the domination of one nation or the developing countries in general, the discussion should emphasize the competition of the developed nations as the center of imperialism. In his closing remarks regarding cultural imperialism Sparks notes another aspect that many are often mistaken about and which differentiates cultural imperialism from the concept of cultural globalization, saying that “it is not the intrinsic characteristics of a television programme, or a language, that make it “imperialist” but the use of state power to ensure that it gains currency” (Sparks, 2012, p. 293). And this is one great difference imperialism has from globalization: the essentiality of the presence of the state and its actions.
For globalization, the process does not necessarily depend on the interference of the state, it will go under way, especially in the sphere of culture.
2.2.2. Cultural globalization, glocalization and cultural proximity
According to John Tomlinson, “globalization refers to the rapidly developing and ever-densening network of interconnections and interdependencies that characterize material, social, economic and cultural life in the modern world” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 352). Tomlinson states, that the cultural aspect of globalization “both has its effects and simultaneously is generated and shaped,” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 355) explaining how this connectivity influences culture and people not only on a global, but also on the local levels.
He explains how this connectivity, especially in the cultural sphere is due the newest technologies we use for communication: the spread of the internet and the fact that the majority of people in the developed world, and more and more in developing countries as well, own mobile phones. And thus we are just ‘one click away’ from a plethora of information of the world and just seconds away from getting in touch with one another – and this increasing immediacy has a great influence on many aspects of our lives, including even small things such as the foods we prefer or the entertainment we choose. He points out how, in the schema of cultural globalization all activities such as watching television, using the internet or communicating with others through these modern devices, become unique ways of cultural activity. As he writes, “our use of media and communication technologies thus helps to define what it is to exist as a social being in the modern world” (Tomlinson, 2012, p. 361).
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Therefore we can see that the use of modern technologies such as social media is actually in fact a cultural activity, which, due to cultural globalization and its penetration into the most personal levels of the local spheres, is constantly shaping many aspects of our lives, our opinions, choices, activities and even identity. Even our decisions whether to eat or not, what to eat, if we would like to be slim or strong, how we want to look and what we do in order to achieve that, our chosen lifestyle – they are all connected to culture and are under the influence of cultural globalization.
However, it needs to be noted that even though cultural globalization has a great impact on many spheres of our lives it does not result in a homogenized culture for each and every nation, demolishing national and regional cultural traits and characteristics. Ryoo argues that there will never be a simple copy of the influencer Western/American culture anywhere as a result but ‘multiple modernities’ due to factors such as the local reception of such cultural influences – which will be different all around the world (Ryoo, 2009). This phenomenon of all the different local cultures shaped by the global processes is also often called glocalization.
And exactly due to this local aspect, the resilience or determining power that these local cultures have in the reception of the global influences, cultural proximity is becoming a factor more and more influential, especially in East Asia, which is culturally more distant from the Western, American culture that is deemed the strongest influencer and source of cultural globalization. Ryoo also mentions how Asian countries are more and more open for a “Made in Asia” concept in the media and entertainment industry (Ryoo, 2009), and Huang reaffirms the presumption, elaborating on how Korean pop culture might be more acceptable to some East Asian nations such as Taiwan or China than the materials released in the West. Huang argues that it is because the Korean productions are not as distant from these recipient countries as the purely Western content, they are creating a balance between the Western and Asian cultures, infusing the former into the latter, making the content more ‘transferable’ in
And exactly due to this local aspect, the resilience or determining power that these local cultures have in the reception of the global influences, cultural proximity is becoming a factor more and more influential, especially in East Asia, which is culturally more distant from the Western, American culture that is deemed the strongest influencer and source of cultural globalization. Ryoo also mentions how Asian countries are more and more open for a “Made in Asia” concept in the media and entertainment industry (Ryoo, 2009), and Huang reaffirms the presumption, elaborating on how Korean pop culture might be more acceptable to some East Asian nations such as Taiwan or China than the materials released in the West. Huang argues that it is because the Korean productions are not as distant from these recipient countries as the purely Western content, they are creating a balance between the Western and Asian cultures, infusing the former into the latter, making the content more ‘transferable’ in