Make science more accessible to women

Social-science research into beauty

The quest for beauty has been a fundamental concern of mankind from its earliest beginnings. All societies from the most primitive to the most modern have used appearance as a language, established beauty as a major reference point, and asserted the aesthetic choices that have accompanied their evolution.
The L’Oréal Foundation aims to offer this wealth of knowledge to a wide audience, and promote fresh insight into beauty, envisaged as a phenomenon of civilisation. Nearly five years ago, this ambition to acquire more in-depth knowledge led to the initiation of a major research programme in the social sciences entitled "The Meaning of Beauty", resulting in the publication of the book: "100,000 Years of Beauty".

"100,000 Years of Beauty“

Published in October 2009 by Gallimard, under the editorial management of ethnologist Elisabeth Azoulay, "100,000 Years of Beauty", sponsored by the L’Oréal Foundation, explores the profound mechanisms behind the quest for beauty and changes of appearance throughout different ages and civilisations.

A combination of aestheticism and scientific rigour, this multi-disciplinary work in five volumes is the most substantial work in the Social Sciences ever produced on beauty and the role of the appearance. Its 1,300 pages bring together the work of 300 authors of 35 nationalities, all eminent specialists from some twenty disciplines, including history, anthropology, philosophy and sociology.

The work of these contributors constitutes a collection of evidence that reveals our permanent concern for appearance.
Through the visionary viewpoint and iconoclastic works of numerous internationally famous thinkers, "100,000 Years of Beauty" is also a source of inspiration for each of us, and an opportunity to imagine what the beauty of the future might be like. A beauty that is undisputedly multi-faceted, where prolonged life, attention given to the body and health and the pre-eminence of the individual will be accompanied by new techniques enabling us to maintain and even transform our bodies. All these predictions legitimise the business of beauty, so many thousands of years old, as a means of gaining freedom and asserting the uniqueness of the individual.

DESCRIPTION
The collection comprises five books :

Book 1
“Prehistory & Foundations”, coordinated by Pascal Picq (paleoanthropologist, Collège de France), offering groundbreaking insight from the world’s emminent prehistorians in answer to the question: “How long has mankind been drawn to beauty?”.

Book 2
“Antiquity & Civilisations”, coordinated by Georges Vigarello (specialist in the history of the body and its representations, EHESS), Georges Balandier (ethnologist and emeritus professor at the Sorbonne) and Marco Bussagli (Accademia delle Belle Arti, Rome), provides a concise compilation of fundamental concepts guiding how we think about beauty. The book explores a range of different civilisations including Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, Ancient China, Pre-Columbian culture and India.

Book 3
“Classical Age & Confrontations”, coordinated by Georges Vigarello, shows the incredible diversity we have inherited, packed with rivalries and conflict stemming from the need to come to terms with otherness, which can so often bring out the best—and the worst—in people.

Book 4
“Modernity & Globalisation”, coordinated by Marc Nouschi (French Ministry of Culture), describes key changes that are irrevocably transforming the sociological and psychological search for beauty. The book depicts the rise of the beauty industry and how it attempts to offer new answers to these questions.

Book 5
“Future & Projections”, coordinated by Françoise Gaillard (philosopher, Université Paris VII and Columbia University, New York). As the virtual age changes our outlook on beauty, raising new questions over biological reality and human aesthetics, contributions from artists, essayists and philosophers attempt to shed light on new sources of beauty.