Overview
"The riveting story of how cosmetic surgery and plastic money melted together to create a subprime mortgage crisis of the body ;;Plastic surgery has become ""the answer"" for many Americans, and in American Plastic sociologist Laurie Essig explores how we arrived at this particular solution. Over the last decade there has been a 465 percent increase in cosmetic work, and we now spend over $12 billion annually on procedures like liposuction, face-lifts, tummy tucks, and boob jobs. In this fascinating book, Essig argues that this transformation is the result of massive shifts in both our culture and our economy-a perfect storm of greed, desire, and technology.;;Plastic is crucial to who we are as Americans, Essig observes. We not only pioneered plastic money but lead the world in our willingness to use it. It's estimated that 30 percent of plastic surgery patients earn less than $30,000 a year; another 41 percent earn less than $60,000. And since the average cost of cosmetic work is $8,000, a staggering 85 percent of patients assume debt to get work done. Using plastic surgery as a lens on better understanding our society, Essig shows how access to credit, medical advances, and the pressures from an image- and youth-obsessed culture have led to an unprecedented desire to ""fix"" ourselves."
Full Product Details
Author: Laurie Essig
Publisher: Beacon Press
Imprint: Beacon Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.50cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.10cm
Weight: 0.434kg
ISBN: 9780807000557
ISBN 10: 0807000558
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 28 December 2010
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
“American Plastic is an incisive analysis and critique of the rise of the cosmetic surgery industry. Challenging the underpinnings of contemporary Neoliberalism, which spawned an unregulated ‘cosmetic industrial complex’ that is fueled by rising economic inequality and socially irresponsible consumer lending, Essig illuminates the political, social, and economic costs of the uniquely American quest for ‘perfection.’  Its narrative ying and yang of boob jobs and credit cards gives new meaning to ‘plastic peril.’” <br> —Robert D. Manning, author, Credit Card Nation, and Director, Institute for Consumer Financial Services <br>“ American Plastic is a playful but deadly earnest reportage on plastic America – the fateful collisions of cosmetic surgery and credit (which pays for most of it), beauty and pornography (which now defines beauty), and technology and perfection (which technology affects to make
Author Information
"Laurie Essig teaches at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont where she directs the program in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies. She has written for a variety of publications, including Salon, the Washington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Essig's blog, ""Social Studies,"" at Psychology Today is a sociological take on being human. She is the author of American Plastic- Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and Our Quest for Perfection."
