Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nakedness, Shame, and Embarrassment

A Long-Term Sociological Perspective

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Barbara Górnicka

    1. School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Publication in the field of social sciences
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Figurationen. Schriften zur Zivilisations- und Prozesstheorie (FIG, volume 12)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XI
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Setting the nude scene

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 13-27

  3. Among the naturists

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 29-43

  4. From lewd to nude: becoming a naturist

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 45-84

  5. The sociogenesis of nudism

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 85-110

  6. Natural bodies? Nakedness, eroticisation and shame

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 111-141

  7. Nakedness as a theoretical problem

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 143-164

  8. Nakedness and the theory of taboo

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 165-178

  9. Conclusion

    • Barbara Górnicka
    Pages 179-185

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 187-207
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Barbara Górnicka presents a sociological investigation – both historical and contemporary – into the problems surrounding naked bodies. She draws on her own participation in a nudist swimming club and goes on to study the often very complex and paradoxical emotions that have been associated with nakedness in the Western world for centuries. The book provides answers not only to why we find exposing our naked bodies shameful, but also why we find it sexual and erotic in the first place. It looks beneath taboos surrounding nakedness today and offers a theoretical explanation for their development over time. On the basis of her historical analysis, the author demonstrates that it was not until the late nineteenth or twentieth century that we began to see nudity as erotic.

Reviews

“In Nakedness, Shame, and Embarrassment: A Long-Term Sociological Perspective, Barbara Górnicka asks why we have connected nakedness to feelings of shame. Drawing on work by Goffman, Freud, and others, she builds a theoretical framework for understanding nudity using Norbert Elias’s theory of civilizing processes. … This book will be of particular interest to those working in the area of sociology of the body.” (Brett Lunceford, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 123 (5), March, 2018)

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Sociology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Barbara Górnicka

About the author

Dr. Barbara Górnicka completed her doctoral degree in sociology at University College Dublin. She is the Managing Editor of Figurations, the newsletter of the Norbert Elias Foundation. Her research interests range from sociological theory to sociology of the body, emotions and sexuality. 

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation