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Is anybody there? Critical realism, chronic illness and the disability debate
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UNSPECIFIED (1999) Is anybody there? Critical realism, chronic illness and the disability debate. SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS, 21 (6). pp. 797-819.
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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 | ||||
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Subjects: | R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
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Journal or Publication Title: | SOCIOLOGY OF HEALTH & ILLNESS | ||||
Publisher: | BLACKWELL PUBL LTD | ||||
ISSN: | 0141-9889 | ||||
Official Date: | November 1999 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 21 | ||||
Number: | 6 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 23 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 797-819 | ||||
Publication Status: | Published |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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