Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Sociology of Body and its Implications in Human Rights

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

A. Gorgi 1
A. Moghadas 2
J. Gorgi 3

1 PhD in Sociology, Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, Tehran, Iran

2 Associate Professor in Sociology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Shiraz, Shiraz, Iran

3 Expert of Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Kangavar, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22631/isih.2018.2161.2659
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to study the Turner's works in the field of sociology of body and its relationship with human rights. Although the study of citizenship has been an important development in contemporary sociology, the nature of rights has been largely ignored. Only in the 1990s the works of Bryan Turner led to the development of a new sociology of human rights. This article defends the claim that human rights is a legitimate subject of inquiry for sociologists. Method of recent article is documentary. Turner sociological studies in the field of medical, body, human rights and religion can be an example of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies in humanities. Turner, in his works has tried to take advantage of concepts and findings of sociology of body, politics and philosophical anthropology, as well as embodiment and vulnerability and find materialist basis for defending human rights universal claims. He knows sociology of body as a basis for the defense of human rights universal concepts and alternative discourse to the natural law tradition. According to him, human rights as an institution beyond citizenship, is a substitute for citizenship and its challenges. In summary, The article argues that a sociology of human rights is very important, because, there are obvious limitations to the idea of citizenship which is based on membership of a nation state. Therefore, human rights as a sociological concept is an important supplement to the existing idea of citizenship.

Keywords

sociology of body
embodiment
vulnerability
human rights
citizenship
cosmopolitan virtue

Subjects

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  • Receive Date 14 March 2017
  • Revise Date 18 February 2018
  • Accept Date 28 October 2018

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