ABSTRACT
Few issues may gain more from the perspective of physical cultural studies (PCS) than the issue of corporal punishment, the punishment of the body. Loosely defined as the beating, hitting, or kicking of the body to discipline or punish, by a person in a position of authority relative to a person in a subordinate position, corporal punishment is a social phenomenon common throughout the industrialized world. It is used in homes but also often in educational spaces by educators hoping to ‘teach kids a lesson’, and it raises important questions about power, violence, and cultural studies.
