Ashley Mears: belief

Transcript context

…In America today, for women, what do you think distinguishes most clearly notions of upper-class beauty and lower-class beauty? All right, I think that upper-class beauty, upper-class bodies are pretty uniformly thin. That’s the economy of plenty: Whoever has money can afford quality food and getting to the gym, as opposed to an economy of scarcity — having a kind of plump, a rotund belly would be a sign of having extra money or of wealth. So, yeah, definitely thinness. And if you look at the rates of obesity and overweight, there’s a very clear divide. People who are upper class tend to be thinner, and people who are lower class tend to be larger. That’s one clear distinction. Otherwise, all of the things that are signals of beauty tend to be things that people who have money can afford to invest in: straight teeth, clear skin, blonde highlights, or just kind of shiny hair, kept-up nails. Clothing signifies a lot. These are all things that people with money can work on themselves to achieve. For our very last segment, we turn to what I call the Ashley Mears production function. Who first spotted your talent as an academic?…

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