# Beauty and Inequality Physical Appearance


## Posts

- [The Handbook of Beauty and Inequality: A New Open Access Volume Featuring Contributions from the BINQ Team](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-handbook-of-beauty-and-inequality-a-new-open-access-volume-featuring-contributions-from-the-binq-team/)
- [ERC Research Teams Meet in Leuven: A Two-Day Collaborative Workshop](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/erc-research-teams-meet-in-leuven-a-two-day-collaborative-workshop/):   On December 10th and 11th, our BINQ team had the pleasure of co-organizing a two-day workshop in Leuven with three other ERC-funded teams: RESCUE, CAFP, and Eco-Islam. It was wonderful to welcome our colleagues who traveled all the way from the University of Amsterdam to KU Leuven. 🚆🇧🇪🇳🇱 Over the course of two days, we exchanged ideas and found new inspiration. We were especially grateful to the four Principal Investigators (PIs), who shared their genuine advice on: 📝 academic writing 🎤 delivering presentations 💼 navigating the job market 🎄living an academic life. Every team member had the opportunity to […]
- [Multipolarity and Multicrisis](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/multipolarity-and-multicrisis-how-todays-multiple-crises-are-shaped-by-hegemonic-decline-and-the-rise-of-the-rest/):   On 1 December, a guest lecture was delivered by Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Distinguished Professor of Global Studies and Sociology. The lecture was organized by the Beauty and Inequality Research Team and addressed the current global condition marked by multiple, overlapping crises and shifting power relations. The lecture argued that today’s economic, political, and geopolitical crises cannot be understood in isolation. Instead, they are closely connected to the historical transformation of global capitalism and the gradual decline of established hegemonic powers, alongside the rise of new actors in the global order. These developments point toward a multipolar world that is […]
- [New Podcast Episode: Beauty, Botox, Boundaries: Aesthetic Medical Procedures and Social Inequality](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/new-podcast-episode-beauty-botox-boundaries-aesthetic-medical-procedures-and-social-inequality/): What does plastic surgery have to do with social inequality? On the latest episode of Culture & Inequality Podcast host Sanne Pieters talks with Alka Menon (Yale University) and Anne-Mette Hermans (Tilburg University) about what Botox, rhinoplasties, and Brazilian Butt Lifts reveal about beauty, morality and inequality today. They explore how doctors and surgeons don’t just shape faces: they shape ideas of what’s acceptable, beautiful and normal. From race to class to gender, these procedures mirror the inequalities running through society. Tune in to hear how aesthetic medicine blurs the boundaries between health and beauty, why practitioners insist that “true […]
- ['Decolonizing Bodies' seminar series](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/decolonizing-bodies-seminar-series/): Over the past weeks, the BINQ project has had the pleasure of hosting the online seminar series “Decolonizing Bodies: Conversations with Prof. Walter Mignolo.” Bringing together scholars from across the social sciences, the series opened a rich space for reflection on embodiment, aesthetics, and the power structures that shape them. Across three sessions—Embodied Novelty, Embodied Fear, and Embodied Dignity —participants engaged in thoughtful dialogue on how bodies serve as sites of knowledge, resistance, vulnerability, and imagination. Each session combined deep theoretical insight with grounded research on lived experiences, inviting us to rethink how cultural narratives and colonial legacies inhabit the […]
- [Recordings: 'Decolonizing Bodies' seminar series](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/recordings-decolonizing-bodies-seminar-series/): This content is password-protected. To view it, please enter your password below: Password:
- [Beauty is no frivolous subject](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/beauty-is-no-frivolous-subject/): By Wanying Zhou In 2024, Wanying Zhou took an interview with Sonar Magazine from KU Leuven to share her personal journey and academic reflections on beauty standards and social inequality. Drawing on her own experience of different beauty standards in Belgium and China, she argues that beauty is far more than a matter of personal taste — it is a powerful social force that influences how we are perceived, treated, and included in society. “In China, people comment directly on each other’s appearance — both positively and critically. That kind of clarity helps you know what’s expected. But in Belgium, […]
- [Report on the rise of cosmetic procedures in Brussels ](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/report-on-the-rise-of-cosmetic-procedures-in-brussels/): By Sanne Pieters Cosmetic procedures are on the rise in Brussels! Sanne was asked to look at the rise of cosmetic procedures in Brussels through a sociological lense.    From the article: “In this growing market, the fine balance between commerce and medicine remains, says Pieters. “Most doctors try their best to advise patients as honestly as possible during consultations and dare to counter patients’ wishes. Yet they all sell the idea that aging is a disease,” she says. “That may be true on a biomedical level, but if you extend it culturally, people can start to think they can take […]
- [Report on the rise of boutique fitness in Brussels](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/3545-2/): By Sanne Pieters   What does the rise of boutique fitness studios as a place for networking say about Brussels?   Sanne was featured in Politico Europe to give her insights on “sweatworking”, where people in Brussels visit high-end gyms for networking purposes.   From the article: “Sanne Pieters, a PhD researcher at KU Leuven investigating the link between beauty and inequality, thinks the reason “sweatworking” is so effective is because “people assume that, by going to high-end gyms, they would meet like-minded people.”  “This is something that is way more prevalent with high-end gyms than with €20-per-month Basic-Fit,” Pieters noted, […]
- [Fieldwork experience](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/fieldwork-experience/): By Narges Pirhayati  Managing My Appearance in the Field During my fieldwork with cosmetic surgeons in Tehran/Iran, I realized that my appearance was not a peripheral matter. On the contrary, it became a critical part of my fieldwork toolkit —something I had to carefully manage to gain access to the highly exclusive and sensitive world of cosmetic surgery.  These surgeons hold significant social power, especially those who are publicly known, and more so if they perform procedures on celebrities and influencers in Iran and abroad. From the outset, I knew speaking with them would not be easy. Even booking a […]
- [Movie Review – The Substance](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/movie-review-the-substance-2/):   By Narges Pirhayati Beauty Standards and Identity in The Substance  The film The Substance explores an identity crisis related to the body. It shows the fear of aging and physical change and how a famous person struggles with growing older and losing her beauty, leading her to take extreme measures to regain her lost fame by altering her body. https://youtu.be/P7L_C2hY2SY?si=aah85J2DN8LIDl6O     The film shows the conflict between an old and a new version of the same person. Their relationship is full of tension and struggle, and each tries to take control. The old self works hard to create the […]
- [Movie Review – The Substance  ](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/movie-review-the-substance/): By Emmanuel Narh    “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself – younger, more beautiful, more perfect?”  This haunting question opens “The Substance”, setting the tone for a visceral critique of our obsession with beauty. It is a fitting entry point into a film that, while framed as horror, unfolds more as an outrageous parable about society’s subconscious beauty anxieties.    https://youtu.be/elrpXsYLXVg?si=fjLxI90rLCkiQazI   Although this movie is marked as a horror, The Substance transcends genre expectations. As a sociologist, I found myself drawn not to the blood, but to the disturbing ways it mirrors everyday realities. The […]
- ['The Neon Demon' - Movie Review #1](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-neon-demon-movie-review-1/): By Carolina Rabasa Rucki ‘Sweety, plastics is just good grooming’ The Neon Demon (2016) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Elle Fanning (Jesse) portrays the arrival of a wannabe model into the Los Angeles modeling scene. This psychological horror film takes us along Jesse’s brief journey from a naive teenager to an up-and-coming modelling star, as she struggles with the industry and her competition.  The film introduces the idea of beauty from an early stage.  In one of the first scenes, we can see a just-arrived Jesse being almost interrogated by two more experienced models and a make-up artist […]
- [PhD researchers](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/phd-researchers/): All five PhD researchers are now doing their fieldwork. On this blog, they share their research impressions in short vignettes. Sanne Pieters discusses the Basic Fit backpack as a confusing status symbol in Brussels.             If George E. Marcus (1995) encourages us to follow the thing, I would like to follow a gray and orange backpack here in Brussels. To be more specific, I would follow the Basic Fit backpack that one can only obtain by joining one of the 20 Brussels-based Basic Fits. Broad in shape and sturdy-looking, its whale gray design with the characteristic bright orange zippers houses […]
- [Brussels and the Basic Fit Backpack](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/brussels-and-the-basic-fit-backpack/): All five PhD researchers are now doing their fieldwork. On this blog, they share their research impressions in short vignettes. Sanne Pieters follows the Basic Fit Backpack in Brussels. All five PhD researchers are now doing their fieldwork. On this blog, they share their research impressions in short vignettes. Sanne Pieters follows the Basic Fit Backpack in Brussels. If George E. Marcus (1995) encourages us to follow the thing, I would like to follow a gray and orange backpack here in Brussels. To be more specific, I would follow the Basic Fit backpack that one can only obtain by joining […]
- [The expanding beauty regime](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-expanding-beauty-regime/): In 2022, Giselinde published an article in which she explained how and why beauty become so important in today’s society. Following sociologists Norbert Elias, but with a dash of Michel Foucault and Max Weber, she calls this “The expanding beauty regime”. The article was published in Critical Studies In Fashion and Beauty (paywall) but the full text is available open access via KU Leuven.
- [The ex-President's hair: Politics and beauty in Buenos Aires](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-ex-presidents-hair-politics-and-beauty-in-buenos-aires/): All five PhD researchers are now doing their fieldwork. On this blog, they share their research impressions in short vignettes. Carolina Rabasa Rucki looks at the hairstyle of former president Cristina de Kirchner to show how beauty is politics in Buenos Aires
- [Podcast: Giselinde discusses aesthetic capital with Doortje Smithuijsen](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/podcast-giselinde-discusses-aesthetic-capital-with-doortje-smithuijsen/): In the first episode of the Connected World podcast series, Giselinde discusses the important of beauty today with Dutch journalist Doortje Smithuijsen
- [Akosua's story: Ghana's Beauty Cultures and the Price of (Non) Conformity](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/akosuas-story-ghanas-beauty-cultures-and-the-price-of-non-conformity/): All five PhD researchers are now doing their fieldwork. On this blog, they share their research impressions in short vignettes. Emmanuel Narh shares the story of Akosua from Ghana “I am now content with my body; it gives me joy because now I get money to feed and help others…” These were the words of Akosua (pseudonymised) whose secondary high school teacher ‘without any reason’ took her out of the line when she joined her colleagues for a beauty contest organised by her school. She was asked to join the choir to sing ‘bass’ – a part that is mostly […]
- [On Beauty: Our Blog](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/on-beauty/): The central assumption of this project is in contemporary societies, physical appearance both produces and reproduces durable social inequalities. Giselinde Kuipers Tweet

## Pages

- [blog](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/blog/): Beauty and Inequality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9krpWj8L4Bo&t=3s The central assumption of this project is in contemporary societies, physical appearance both produces and reproduces durable social inequalities. Giselinde Kuipers subprojects Tweet
- [Presentations](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-project/presentations/): ESA Conference Porto: Beauty Standards as Cultural Capital During the European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference 2024 in Porto, Portugal, Carolina represented the BINQ team and shared the first city-based results of the shared project on beauty standards as cultural capital across five global cities: Accra, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, and Tehran. This comparative study delves into how symbolic boundaries around beauty may take part in shaping social inequality.  It was an incredible experience to engage with fellow sociologists on the significance of appearance in diverse contexts. Looking forward to future collaborations and discussions on these important topics.     […]
- [Q-sorts](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/q-sorts/): We want to find out what people find beautiful in others and why. For this, we developed a new method called visual Q-sort.   In each city, we talk to 40 people of all walks of life. We ask them to sort images of bodies and faces of women and men, from most to least beautiful, and we ask them to explain their tastes. In this way, we can understand how people see and experience beauty.  We can see how this varies across people, not only across but also within the five cities. Thus, we see that beauty is not […]
- [Tehran](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/tehran-2/): The research focuses on cosmetic surgery in Tehran, Iran, where physical beauty has become a valuable form of social capital in a media-saturated consumer society. Despite economic challenges and political tensions, cosmetic surgery has flourished in Iran, particularly for rhinoplasty (or ‘nose jobs’). This is a paradox, as there are strict religious and political regulations on appearance, particularly for women, while the demand for cosmetic surgery is increasing. This PhD project by Narges Pirhayati explores the implications of cosmetic surgery within the sociocultural dynamics of Iran, particularly in relation to different forms of inequality. Through three case studies, the research will […]
- [Home](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/): Beauty and Inequality: how do beauty standards shape and reproduce social inequalities? Welcome to our website! We are a team of researchers from around the world who study how beauty contributes to social advantage and disadvantage. Our BINQ is funded by the European Research Council. We are based at KU Leuven University in Belgium. learn more Beauty: you know it when you see it. But does everyone see beauty in the same way? How does the quest for beauty impact our daily lives? And what are the consequences of beauty: do better-looking people have more advantages in life? This project […]
- [Brussels](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/brussels-3/): As the capital of Belgium and Europe, Brussels (FR: Bruxelles/NL: Brussel) plays a vital role in shaping global and European beauty trends.’ Brussels currently ranks as one of the most superdiverse cities in the world, its population made up from people of many different races and ethnicities, sporting a great diversity of languages, residential statuses, political affiliations and age groups. This heterogeneity suggests that many different beauty standards will exist. Variations in beauty standards, as Kuipers (2022) points out, do not reduce the effect of the beauty regime, but rather serve to strengthen it. To legitimise the existence of diverse […]
- [Accra](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/accra-2/): Ghana’s vibrant capital city Accra is a fascinating intricate of ethnic diversity and a developing centre for aesthetic cultures. Accra, which is situated along the Gulf of Guinea, has a lengthy history, a diverse population, and a distinctive fusion of tradition and modernity that have formed its unique position as a periphery hub to a variety of local and global beauty standards. With a population of more than 1.4 million (GSS, 2021 PHC). Accra has a mixture of beauty cultures that incorporate both historical traditions and modern influences including clothing, hair style, skin colour, face, body shape, etc. The city’s […]
- [Hong Kong](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/hongkong-2/): Known as a metropolitan city where the East meets the West, Hong Kong has a fascinating mixture of cultures. With its traditional Chinese roots, British colonial impact, local Cantonese culture, and cultural import from other East Asian countries, Hong Kong has great hybridity and diversity in the sphere of beauty. As such a “peripheral hub” (Kuipers, 2022), this city shows how beauty standards are shaped by many social and cultural influences. Hong Kong also is a very diverse cities, with many kinds of inequalities. In her PhD project, Wanying Zhou will investigate how beauty is related to processes of self-presentation […]
- [Buenos Aires](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/buenosaires-2/): BINQ’s research in Buenos Aires makes its focus on beauty standards in the city, and its political scene. This PhD project aims to study how beauty is shaped in the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina: a place marked by a strong colonial and migrational history.  Firstly, by mapping what it means to be beautiful there.  Looking at evaluations of beauty and their implications regarding social inequalities through in-depth Q-sorting interviews. Secondly, it centres on the political field to examine beauty in action. From modelling the political look, to looks in the campaigning trail, it aims for a […]
- [The Project](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/the-project/): The “beauty and inequality” research project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC)the research funding agency of the European Union. In 2023, Giselinde Kuipers received an Advanced Grant for this five-year project. With this study, we aim to  build a comprehensive new theory that explains how evaluations of physical appearance work, and how they re/produce durable inequalities in today’s media-saturated, service-based, globalized consumer societies. This study brings together insights from various social sciences to study the following hypotheses:  1. in 21st century societies beauty has become a central resource or form of capital for all genders across the life-course;  2. beauty […]
- [About us](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/about-us/): Meet the team Meet our international team of researchers, brought together to study physical beauty. Directed by Prof. Giselinde Kuipers, we are a team of social scientists from 5 different nationalities who have come to Leuven to study how beauty is evaluated and how it contributes to social inequality. KU Leuven The team KU Leuven history KU Leuven is the oldest university of Belgium. In 2025, KU Leuven will celebrate its six hundredth anniversary. This makes it, together with its sister university UC Louvain, one of the oldest universities in Europe. It is also the oldest university in the Low […]
- [global project](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/global-project/): The research focuses on cosmetic surgery in Tehran, Iran, where physical beauty has become a valuable form of social capital in a media-saturated consumer society. Despite economic challenges, cosmetic surgery has flourished in Iran, particularly for rhinoplasty. This is a paradox, as there are strict religious and political regulations on appearance, particularly for women, while the demand for cosmetic surgery is increasing. The research aims to explore the implications of cosmetic surgery within the sociocultural dynamics of Iran, particularly in relation to different forms of inequality. Through three case studies, the research will analyze medical clinics, cosmetic surgeons’ Instagram pages, […]
- [ (WP1 - Qsort) ](https://sociologyofbeauty.eu/privacy-policy/): INFORMACIÓN SOBRE EL TRATAMIENTO DE SUS DATOS PERSONALES   Usted está participando en un estudio sobre “La belleza de ser élite: evaluaciones estéticas y (des)ventajas sociales en torno a la élite en Buenos Aires”. Para ello, recopilaremos datos personales relacionados con usted. Estos datos serán tratados de conformidad con el Reglamento General de Protección de Datos (RGPD) de Bélgica y de la Unión Europea.  En este documento, explicamos lo que haremos con esta información. También le explicamos lo que puede hacer si tiene más preguntas, o si decide que no quiere que sus los datos sean utilizados después de todo.   Uso […]


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