A study of social and cultural factors affecting the lifestyle of Tehran women in the field of body management

The present thesis sought to address social and cultural factors affecting body management intensity in middle-aged married women and single girls in Tehran. By reviewing the views of the key thinkers on lifestyle (e.g. Bourdieu, Giddens, Veblen, and Susan Bordo), it was found that that social factors such as religiosity, socioeconomic status, marital status, and social acceptance of body management can be the main variables of this study. First theoretical and operational definitions were provided and then the research hypotheses were tested using empirical evidence. The present survey used questionnaires to collect the data. The population consisted of two hundred 35- to 46-year-old women and girls living in District 4 of Tehran Municipality selected via non-probability and quota sampling.Statistical analysis of the collected field data confirmed all research hypotheses. The higher the socioeconomic status the household enjoyed, the more intensive its body management was. The more attention the subjects paid to religion, the less attention they paid to body management. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between social acceptance of the body and body management in the subjects. They also revealed that there were no significant differences between married women and single girls with respect to body management.