Attractiveness as indispensible requirement in professional life and the boom of cosmetic surgery in Korea, conspicuous consumption and the construction of "baifumei" – the rich white beauty - in China and the dilemma of Japanese youth between subculture aesthetics and social norms – the phenomena of growing importance of body norms and beauty standards in East Asia are widely discussed.

For the first time a conference brings together international experts in the field of social and cultural sciences to analyze in a comparative setting the processes and mechanisms of how social change is embodied through body images, beauty practices and new beauty ideals in China, Korea and Japan. The increase in the significance of an attractive appearance as well as the manifold practices of self-improvement in East Asia cannot be understood without considering recent socioeconomic developments as the consequence of the economic and social modernization process, such as the influence of a western oriented consumer culture, social distinction and redistribution battles in the course of the establishment of new social strata as well as individual neoliberal strategies in dealing with system risks and new uncertainties. How are systemic and structural changes implemented on the micro level of body culture? How are global trends adopted in specific cultural ways? How do the concept and practices of body and beauty work correlate with the principles of a reflexive modernity? The conference's contributions deal with these issues and stimulate discussions about a “world culture of beauty” and indigenous preconditions in a transnational array.