Tattooing and civilizing processes: body modification as self-control.

Malgre la revolution en cours dans le tatouage en Amerique du Nord, les universitaires restent attaches a l'idee que les « fanatiques du tatouage » seraient des inadaptes sociaux. Dans cet article, des donnees obtenues au cours d'une observation participante de trois ans parmi des fanatiques du tatouage au Canada ouvrent la porte a une critique des interpretations psycho-sociales privilegiees du tatouage comme etant une conduite irrationnelle, impliquant des risques (voir Carroll et coll., 2002; Roberts et Ryan, 2002). A la lumiere de la sociologie figurationnelle (Elias, 1983; 1994; 1996), le tatouage est ici vu comme un acte de communication a caractere sociable et regi affectivement plutot que comme un cas pathologique d'automutilation. Despite the ongoing revolution in the use of tattoos in North America, academic understandings of tattooing remain grounded in conceptions of “tattoo enthusiasts” as social misfits. In this paper, data from three years of participant observation with tattoo enthusiasts in Canada help critique preferred social-psychological interpretations of tattooing as irrational, “risk-taking behaviour” (see Carroll et al., 2002; Roberts and Ryan, 2002). Through the lens of figurational sociology (Elias, 1983; 1994; 1996), tattooing is interpreted in this paper as a pro-social and affectively regulated act of communication, rather than a pathological instance of self-injury.

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