The New Addiction :: essays research papers

The New AddictionTen familys past 330,000 Americans underwent plastic operating theater. This year that number has attachd to over 6 million, of which 335,000 are under the age of 18 (So you want a famous face). The increase in numbers of plastic surgeries could be attributed and/or directly symmetric to the increase in extreme makeover shows. According to Charles Cooley, a persons sense of self is derived from the perceptions of others. We will use Charles Coolys looking-glass-self surmisal to argue that mass media has created a affectionate mirror for millions of women, the consequence of which is a cosmetic surgery addiction.     Coolys looking-glass-self is defined as a self-concept based on our perception of others judgments of us (Sociology pg 97). In the year 2000 more than 6.3 million women chose to have cosmetic plastic surgery, which could be a direct result from people watching TV programs such as Extreme Makeover, Swan, and Nip/Tuck (Less is R eally more Paul Lorenc.. Newsweek). These kinds of shows, combined with the seemingly flawless beauty of Hollywood stars, forms the social mirror by which union judges itself. Under these circumstances current people begin to see themselves as wanting and not satisfactory enough. The answer to their feelings of unattractiveness is fulfilled by plastic surgery more often than not, and when their problem is not fixed by one surgery other is done until an addiction begins to form. In the year 2003, 4.3 million patients undergoing plastic surgery were returning patients (plasticsurgery.org).      We feel Coolys theory of the looking-glass-self illustrates why society is addicted to plastic surgery, and why this addiction is due to the media. We believe that the media trade union movement images of people that are unrealistic and these images are what we feel we should look like.