Rise and Shine: Sunlight, Technology and Health

by Simon Carter

Overview

Sunshine plays an important role in all aspects of life but there has been little social analysis of the sun and its place in our world. Recently experts have warned us that the sun's rays are dangerous. Yet, a suntan can still be taken as a sign of health. How did we arrive at this ambivalent relationship to the sun and what does this say about our changing attitudes to the human body and environment? Rise and Shine takes as its starting point a view of sunlight as part of our material and social culture. How did the use of sunlight to treat tuberculosis and rickets in the early twentieth century alter our relationship with the sun? When was suntan lotion invented? By drawing on a range of archival and historical sources, Rise and Shine traces the network of social and medical forces that constitute our current, sometimes problematic, relationship with sun and sunlight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845201319
Publisher:	Berg Publishers
Publication date:	04/01/2007
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Dr Simon Carter, Lecturer In Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University

Table of Contents

Introduction * Beyond the Pale: Sun, Danger and Delight * The Move to the Great Outdoors: Camping, Campers and the 'Worthy Sun Tan' * Sunshine, Hygiene and the Sun Cure - Part 1: Rickets, Sunlight and Actinotherapy * Sunshine, Hygiene and the Sun Cure - Part 2: Tuberculosis and Heliotherapy * Heliosis - Part 1: Leagues of Sunshine * Heliosis- Part 2: Building Worlds of Sunlight * Coda: Pleasure, Sunlight and the Socio-Sensual Environment