Making Sense of Illness: Science, Society and Disease

By Robert A. Aronowitz

Book Overview

Making Sense of Illness is a fascinating investigation into the social and clinical factors that determine what constitutes a legitimate illness in the twentieth century. By examining six case studies of diseases that have emerged within the past fifty years--from what we now consider to be straightforward diseases such as coronary heart disease, to the currently widely-debated Chronic Fatigue Syndrome--Aronowitz examines the historical and cultural factors that influence how doctors think about illness; how illnesses are recognized, named, classified, and finally, what they mean in an individual and social context. The choices that are available to the investigators, clinicians, patients and the processes by which change occurs are factors that all play a great role in legitimizing an illness, and these are the roles that are seldom examined. By juxtaposing the histories of each disease, Aronowitz shows how cultural and historical precedents have determined research programs, public health activities, clinical decisions, and even the patient's experience of illness. This is a must-read for anyone interested in public health and the history of medicine in the United States.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521552346
• ISBN13: 9780521552349
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Making sense makes sense

This is a clearly thought out and clearly written discourse on how the forces that define and sanction "disease" are strong and operative within social, economic, and historical contexts. Taking such diseases as polio and lyme disease Aronowitz nicely traces these forces at work. His section on caridiology and the evolution of risk factors and Type A personality as similar social constructions and their impact is truly exquisite. Sensibility and perspective without hype or shallow ridicule.