Body Politics: Power, Sex and Non-verbal Communication (The
Patterns of Social Behaviour Series)
by Nancy M. Henley
 |
First published 1977
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
|
Nancy Henley’s ground-breaking 1977 book drew on the work of
Goffman (1956) and transformed the study of nonverbal behaviour. She demonstrated
that the observed sex, race and class differences in nonverbal behaviour may be
traced to differences in power, and that these are learned. Examining how
inter-personal micro-inequities affect larger social and political systems,
Henley included nonverbal behaviour such as unreciprocated touch used as a
privilege of those with higher status. This and other nonverbal behaviours show
how gendered hierarchies are achieved through everyday interactions. The book describes
the many unspoken rules about our behaviour that enforce a legacy-based,
unearned hierarchical status. From the space we take up, to how touch is used, power
and status is being communicated, often in discriminatory ways.