UNSPECIFIED (1999) Is anybody there? Critical realism, chronic illness and the disability debate. SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS, 21 (6). pp. 797-819. ISSN 0141-9889

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Abstract

Taking as its point of departure the contested nature of the body, in mainstream theory and the sociology of health and illness alike, this paper seeks, albeit tentatively, to chart a critical realist alternative to these debates using the controversial terrain of chronic illness and disability as a case study. A critical realist approach, it is suggested, enables us to: (i) bring the biological body, impaired or otherwise, 'back in'; (ii) relate the individual to society in a challenging, non-conflationary or non 'unidirectional' way; and (iii) rethink questions of identity, difference and the ethics of care through a commitment to real bodies and real selves, real lives and real worlds. Within all this, it is argued, modern medicine does indeed, contra disability theory and postmodern calls for the pursuit of so-called 'arche-health', have a continuing role to play in the mitigation of human pain and suffering, including the realities of chronic disabling illness conditions and the associated 'greying' of Western populations.

Item Type:	Journal Item
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Journal or Publication Title:	SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS
Publisher:	BLACKWELL PUBL LTD
ISSN:	0141-9889
Date:	November 1999
Volume:	21
Number:	6
Number of Pages:	23
Page Range:	pp. 797-819
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/14014

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