Self-nurturing as a philosophical basis for glamour: M. Foucault's experience

The article is aimed to answer the question: “Is glamour a modern form of self-nurturing, or only claims to be it? To find out if this is so, we have explicated the anthropological and social value of self-nurturing practice and revealed its key characteristics. The study of the concept of “self-nurturing” is carried out on the basis of post-structuralist methodology, mainly as worded by M. Foucault. The analysis is carried out to identify the common ground in the characteristics of the phenomenon of glamour and the concept of “self-care”. Attempts to study the historical genesis of the concept of “glamour” inevitably lead to an ancient value system, in particular, to an analysis of the category “epimileia” (self-nurturing). As a result, it has been found that glamour as an actual form of self-nurturing includes a whole range of practices that have a structure and rules. Like antique care, glamour is both a duty (a certain standard of attitude to society and one’s fundamental obligation to his/herself), and a technique - a method of making oneself proper, knowledge that underlies a set of principles to live by, and a combination of body-oriented procedures. The proposed analysis is adequate to modern trends in social sciences, meets the public request for clarification of the actual mechanisms of subjectivation through building the relationship of a person with his own physicality, and can be a methodological prerequisite for further study of the relationship between the phenomenon of “glamour” and the concept of “self-nurturing”. The results of the study may be included in the courses on social philosophy and cultural studies.