Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to the Sociology Show podcast. In this episode,
Speaker 1: doctor Catherine Hackem is going to explain all about erotic capital.
Speaker 1: Now you've probably heard of economic capital or cultural capital,
Speaker 1: maybe even social capital, but what about erotic capital. In
Speaker 1: this episode, Hackem talks all about how important our looks
Speaker 1: are in terms of how we progress in society, how
Speaker 1: we're viewed from others, and how successful we are. So,
Speaker 1: without further ado, let's go over to the episode with
Speaker 1: Dr Catherine Hackem talking all about erotic capital.
Speaker 2: I think and prousion. I drew from a study of
Speaker 2: online dating, whilst the crucial importance of good looks, especially
Speaker 2: for women. This will not surprise young people, but sociology
Speaker 2: has never paid proper attention to the importance of appearance.
Speaker 2: Oh I changed that. I gave it the label erotic capital,
Speaker 2: and I regard it as a fourth personal asset alongside
Speaker 2: the three personal assorts that Bordeaux identified. He called them
Speaker 2: capital and he identified free capitals economics capital sensally money
Speaker 2: and land, human or cultural capital sensally education and saying.
Speaker 2: And then the third one is social capital. Who you
Speaker 2: know instead of what you know? So I seated erotic
Speaker 2: capital as the fourth personal effort that people can use
Speaker 2: in just the same way as the other three. And
Speaker 2: as soon as I published an article describing this fourth
Speaker 2: personal assets of erotic capital, and then also a book
Speaker 2: on the same topic, everyone else piled in saying they
Speaker 2: got their first. The labels multiplied. A whole pile of
Speaker 2: different labels were offered, some of them knew and some
Speaker 2: of them not new. So they include appearance, beauty, attractiveness,
Speaker 2: good looks, body capital, physical capital, physical attractiveness, esthetic capital,
Speaker 2: esthetic labor, emotional labor, effective capital, and in some cases
Speaker 2: sexual capital. I say that erotic capital is multifaceted. It's
Speaker 2: a combination of physical and social attractiveness with six elements.
Speaker 2: So the first is facial beauty, very obviously as you
Speaker 2: see it in photos. A second one is a good body,
Speaker 2: which everybody recognizes is important. The third one is fitness
Speaker 2: and liveliness as displayed in dancing sports. The fourth charm
Speaker 2: and social skills, a positive personality that makes people enjoy
Speaker 2: your company and like to meet you. Another one is
Speaker 2: good dress sense and style, knowing how to present yourself
Speaker 2: in terms of how you were, what codd you wear,
Speaker 2: and so on, And I would also add sex appeal
Speaker 2: the ability to flirt and to make yourself appealing to people.
Speaker 2: In the first article that I published on this, I
Speaker 2: included sexual competence, but I think I now think that
Speaker 2: I made a mistake in that you can't include sexual
Speaker 2: competence firstly, because it can't be measured. All the other
Speaker 2: things can be measured. There's some difficulty about measuring all
Speaker 2: of them, but you can measure them. Sexual competence can't
Speaker 2: be measured because it's too private and it only matters
Speaker 2: in any case to the particular people that you have
Speaker 2: sexual relations with, and tastes differ in that area. So
Speaker 2: it's a combination of visual, physical, esthetic, and social attractiveness
Speaker 2: to other members of your society in your particular culture.
Speaker 2: Young people understand the concept easily. Older people often reject
Speaker 2: the idea out of hand, saying it should not matter
Speaker 2: because they can't compete, of course, And I've also noticed
Speaker 2: that in journalists, the journalists who are commenting on the
Speaker 2: theory of erotic capital, it's the ugly ones and the
Speaker 2: older ones who tend to be very negative about it
Speaker 2: and essentially argue that it shouldn't matter, even if it
Speaker 2: does matter. Well, that's no good. The fact is social
Speaker 2: science sociology looks at how the world works and what
Speaker 2: is real, whether you like it or you don't like it.
Speaker 2: Research those that people who score high on effectiveness earn more,
Speaker 2: are promoted more quickly, have more friends than lovers, are
Speaker 2: assumed to be clever of well as affective. They smile
Speaker 2: at everyone, and the world smiles that. There are three
Speaker 2: reasons why erotic capital matters more today than in the past,
Speaker 2: and why it's becoming increasingly important and valuable. First, new
Speaker 2: technology have made everyone visible. Digital photographs on Facebook and
Speaker 2: newspapers make it possible to see people who remained invisible
Speaker 2: in the past unless you have met them face to face.
Speaker 2: The Internet expands the use of photographs. Everyone can see
Speaker 2: those clooney He has become globally famous well beyond his films. Today,
Speaker 2: film styles, singers and musicians, writers, even politicians need to
Speaker 2: be attractive as well as skilled in their profession because
Speaker 2: their photos will be seen everywhere. People who are beautiful
Speaker 2: have easier access to these occupations, so that helps get
Speaker 2: them in the Second reason is the Western world and
Speaker 2: many other countries are more affluent now, so we value
Speaker 2: and buy luxury such as beauty, courtesy, charming, good manners, knife, clothes,
Speaker 2: pleasant service, good looks. Wealthy countries spend more un luxuries
Speaker 2: than poor countries. Wealthy people spend a lot more on
Speaker 2: luxuries than poor people. Beauty is one of the most
Speaker 2: popular luxuries wealthy men, for example, through beautiful wives, as
Speaker 2: illustrated by Donald Trumk. Thirdly, the workplace of saints. The
Speaker 2: social skills and palms are crucial now in many jobs
Speaker 2: except for manual and laboring jobs. The professional and white
Speaker 2: collar work conservice sector work makes erotic capital more important
Speaker 2: because look good social relationships and smooth social interaction are
Speaker 2: crucial in the workplace. Attractive lawyers and salespeople earn more
Speaker 2: than ugly lawyers and salespeople. Attractive political candidates get more
Speaker 2: votes than ugly candidate. A nice measure of that from
Speaker 2: several studies is they get fifteen percent more votes than
Speaker 2: unattractive candidates. And it's particularly important for young people and
Speaker 2: newcomers to politics, and you get roughly the same figures.
Speaker 2: Also in the labor market, on average, it's around fifteen
Speaker 2: percent more the earnings for people who are attractive rather
Speaker 2: than unattractive, but I say in my book that it's
Speaker 2: between ten percent more and twenty percent more. And of course,
Speaker 2: in certain jobs like being models or whatever, you can
Speaker 2: earn or film stuff, you can earn hundreds of times
Speaker 2: more than people who are not attracted. So this is
Speaker 2: an important element that we have to recognize now in
Speaker 2: a modern world that wasn't as important in the past.
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