Understanding body modification: A process‐based framework

Abstract This manuscript evaluates existing literature on body modification. Prior research has focused on the modification itself, either the motivation for attaining it or the meanings behind it from the perspective of the wearer. Considering these prior findings, scholars have neglected to examine how body modifications are the outcome of a complex social process. This manuscript rectifies these weaknesses by addressing the field of body modification through the framework of cultural production. This shifts the focus from the outcome of a social process, the modification, to an analysis of the processes by which modifications are produced. By examining these processes, a more coherent theoretical understanding can be developed.