From Outsider to Established - Explaining the Current Popularity and Acceptability of Tattooing

Abstract: Tattooing is a practice long associated with social outsiders – sailors, criminals, bikers and women of disrepute. In recent years, however, the practice has become increasingly popular, and acceptable, in mainstream culture as these marks of distinction appear on an ever greater number of bodies. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, academic literature, and content analysis of popular media, I propose that four inter-related developments have contributed to the redefinition of tattooing: the increasing importance of the body as a site for constructing identity; processes of cultural diversity and globalization; the increased visibility of the practice in popular culture; and attempts to legitimise the practice as an acceptable art form both within academia and popular culture. By drawing together these inter-related developments this paper demonstrates how Elias’ theories of established-outsider relations provides an understanding of the processes that lead to changing statuses for

Object Details

• Alternative title: Vom Außenseiter zum Etablierten - Erklärungen zur aktuellen Popularität und Akzeptanz von Tätowierungen
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: From Outsider to Established - Explaining the Current Popularity and Acceptability of Tattooing ; volume:41 ; number:3 ; year:2016 ; pages:157-174 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 41, Heft 3 (2016), 157-174

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Rees, Michael

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.41.2016.3.157-174
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-48888-1
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:46 AM CEST