Since the time when tattoos were first created, there has
been a certain stigmatism attached to them and those who have tattoos that not
very many understand. It has only been in the last decade, that researchers and
others have taken an interest in the history and motives behind tattoos.
History:
Tattoos
date all the way back to the Bronze age, with warriors placing dirt in wounds
to stop the bleeding and the wound would heal with dirt still inside making a
different colour appear permanently on the body. However back in those time,
the “tattoo” was seen as a mark of honour, as the warrior fought bravely for
their leader. This type of tattoo (for honour) was brought over to Canada, when
soldiers would come back from war, and wanted to commemorate their fallen
comrades.
The very
first precursor of the type of tattoo shop we see in today’s society was
located in New York to "tat" Civil War officers. This included the
first electric tattoo machine that was developed in 1891. Up to this point, the
craft of tattooing has been tormented in present day society via unfair
generalizations and stereotypes. Every circus had at least one tattooed person,
and it was quite common with sailors back in the day. Traditional designs such
as hearts and ships were actually popular with sailors. On the other hand,
lately, tattoos have picked up standard ubiquity and are commonplace to the
point that they probably won't have such a negative undertone. Notwithstanding,
techniques for tattoo removal still remain.
Karl Marx and Alienation:
In 1867,
Karl Marx acquired this anthropological wording to depict a sensation he broadly
entitled 'fetishism of commodities. Fetishism of Commodities is the state of
associations in a capitalist market, in which items are seen as products; substances
having a natural quality, while actually their worth is made by human work and
labour. Marx contended that this perplexity of items bears incredible
similitude to the religious convictions of primitive social orders, in which
protests delivered by human work show up as autonomous creatures blessed with
life. This view of things rose in the late 19th century against the foundation
of the late Industrial Revolution; the ascent of mass mechanical creation and
fast appropriation disengaged the merchandise from their makers, or, in Marx's
terms, prompted "alienation”.
In short,
this is saying that Alienation is the transformation
of people’s own labour into a power, which rules them as if by a kind of
natural or supra-human law.
In this blog we will try to use Karl
Marx’s theory of Fetishism of Commodities and
Alienations to explain the factors motivating so many people to get tattoos, when
parts of society still stigmatism them as something only delinquents get. In
Marx’s theory of alienation, he says that an individual that has been alienated
do not expand freely upon his bodily and psychological energy but instead
modifies and mortifies his body and mind. Tattooing can be seen as one such embarrassment
of the body. Additionally alienated people no more end up;
worth
through their occupations, tattooing might be seen as an inventive outlet used
to build a feeling of character.
Today’s
Society
In today’s society, even though
tattoos are more common, the tattoo
continues to be viewed as a sign of the bearer's alienation from what people
consider the mainstream norms and social networks. People see tattoos as
permanent scarring on a body that should only be modified for beauty’s sake,
not for emotional need. It is seen as a voluntary stigma that symbolically isolates
the bearer from "normal people”. Since tattoos are deemed to be
responsible for their deviant physical condition, the mark is especially
discrediting.
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