evhartogh writes:

Reviewed by Evelyn Hartogh

In the The Power of Looks, Bonnie Berry examines the unearned privileges enjoyed by people considered attractive by contemporary social standards. Her book is a very approachable, clear, and concise text that is suitable for both a non-academic audience and first-year university students in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, gender studies and cultural studies. Berry argues that attractive people gain greater job opportunities, more romantic prospects, and friends, due to the value placed on their appearance. She relies on a great deal of statistical analysis to back up her arguments, and touches on some contemporary philosophical theories when appropriate. Her analysis of the value attributed to appearance concentrates on the current social standards. However, Berry also gives historical and cultural contrasts on entirely different systems of social stratification of appearance to give weight to her argument that the value placed on appearance is a social construct, and reliant on the time and context of a particular culture. Berry's study of the statistics of appearance-altering surgical, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical procedures, and reveals a globalisation of looks bias towards the 'westernised' ideal of the white, tall, blonde, able-bodied, thin person, with a small nose and western eye-lids.

Conforming to current standards of beauty means a person can exchange their appearance for social and economic power. Beauty, is thus not only a commodity, which can be exchanged for other social 'goods', but is also something that can be bought. Since appearance modification has become more democratised and is now available to the middle classes as well as the upper classes, it is also a sign of wealth and power itself. Berry points out that when a person is considered 'ugly', they are also read as a person who does not have the economic means to alter their appearance to a more socially acceptable level. Berry demonstrates the current global bias towards a white Caucasian appearance by citing the popularity of eyelid fold surgery in Asian cultures to create a more 'western' eye, and the popularity of rhinoplasty (nose reduction surgery) in Jewish, Persian and Arab cultures. Even within the native countries of non-Caucasians, the Caucasian face structure is endowed with a higher value and social status. The Power of Looks mentions in passing some of the life-threatening aspects of radical appearance alteration through surgery. However, Berry does not go in depth into this area. Readers interested in a detailed analysis of the risks and damage done to the body in the pursuit of beauty ideals will find Sheila Jeffrey's Beauty and Misogyny: Harmful Cultural Practices in the West very helpful.

Interestingly, although Berry's book is about the bias surrounding acceptable looks, she is compassionate in her interpretation, and suggests that since the rewards for looks are so great, one should not condemn anyone for changing their appearance; such changes will give the person economic security and wider acceptance in their communities. Her non-judgemental approach offers marked contrast to the more radical feminist works that have preceded her. However, her book's ability to substantiate her arguments through both statistics and philosophical analysis is made possible through the more radical feminist theories of the recent past. Berry also shows an awareness of the radical and rebellious nature of refusal to conform to the 'Barbie-doll' ideal, and the message that such an appearance conveys: namely a desire for acceptance of a greater diversity of appearance. Berry, herself, hopes that by making looks bias more evident to people, she will encourage everyone to examine their own social constructed prejudices and become more accepting of a wider range of appearances.

The fat acceptance movement is one particular area that Berry examines in depth. Currently, our culture values thinness as an indicator of discipline and success. As Berry demonstrates in her book, however, this was not always the case; only a century ago, plumpness in men and women was symbolic of social prestige, and was highly valued and sought after in a potential mate. This shift in the values attached to a person's size is Berry's strongest example of the social construction of the meaning given to appearance.

Besides colour, the most visual aspect of a person's appearance is their size; this cultural focus has been amply exploited in capitalism by both the market for large people and the market for diet products so large people can reduce their size. Berry concludes that capitalism operates to both accept fat people and accept the value placed on being thin. Numerous products for fat people are sold alongside diet and exercise products, meaning that the economy can benefit from the pressure people feel to lose weight and the pressure they also feel to accept themselves just as they are.

Age is also another highly visible and potentially alterable aspect of a person's appearance. A person's economic power can also be displayed through their ability to consume the products and procedures that give an appearance of youth to an older person. The economic aspect of appearance modification also means that beauty is considered a commodity, and those people who do not possess beauty can be also interpreted as those who do not possess economic power. People who choose to not alter their appearance into the 'Barbie-doll' ideal risk being considered either rebellious or economically disadvantaged.

The height of a person, due to looks bias, will also literally allow them to rise to a higher economic stratosphere. Height, like thinness, and as Berry calls it, 'cookie-cutter' normalisation of appearance, endows a person with arbitrary characteristics such as greater reliability, honesty, intelligence, moral virtue and an assumption of greater achievement. Leg-lengthening surgery, popular in Asian countries in particular, is one of the most risky surgical procedures a person can undergo. However, given the social and economic benefits of being tall, this risk is regularly undertaken by people who consider themselves too short to be able to achieve their goals in a society biased towards tall people.

Berry concludes that instead of a merit based society, we have a society that gives unearned rewards to people who have been fortunate with their genetic make-up, or people who have the economic power to alter their appearance to gain the rewards that conformity of beauty earns. The Power of Looks convincingly argues that the values placed on aspects of a person's appearance are arbitrary and rely on a reflection of the appearance of the people currently in power.

The Power of Looks: Social Stratification of Physical Appearance
(2008)

by Bonnie Berry
Ashgate Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-7546-4758-4
154pp ￡50.00

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