Truth and goodness, mirrors and masks Part II: a sociology of beauty and the face.

In the first half of this paper (in BJS Volume 40, No. 4) we considered the development of thinking about beauty and the face chronologically, from the Greeks and Romans through Christianity and astrology to the present. Here we trace the matter thematically, the face as mask in social interaction; the face as art: makeup and plastic surgery; and the face as battlefield: a source of ideological controversy. A final section considers some of the variables and dimensions around which discourse on beauty and the face has centred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]