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Medical sociology, chronic illness and the body
Author(s) -
Kelly Michael P.,
Field David
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.ep10934993
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , identity (music) , sociology of health and illness , medical sociology , sociology , everyday life , self , personal identity , epistemology , psychology , social psychology , medicine , aesthetics , philosophy , health care , nursing , public health , economics , economic growth
The sociological conceptualisation of chronic illness requires a sociology which indicates the physicality of the body theoretically. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the body might be integrated into sociological accounts of the experience of chronic illness in a way that acknowledges biological and social facts. Central to our argument is the connection between bodily aspects of self and identity. Self and identity are core aspects of everyday experience and of the everyday experience of illness. With the onset of illness bodily functioning alters and self‐conceptions and identity may also change. The body, which in many social situations is a taken for granted aspect of the person, ceases to be taken for granted once it malfunctions. The bodily basis of chronic illness has to be attended to because it limits or interferes with other physical and social activities. The connection between biological and social facts is explored using the concepts of self and identity.