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Deconstructing Fatalism: Ethnographic Perspectives on Women's Decision Making about Cancer Prevention and Treatment
Author(s) -
Drew Elaine M.,
Schoenberg Nancy E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
medical anthropology quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.855
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1548-1387
pISSN - 0745-5194
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1387.2010.01136.x
Subject(s) - fatalism , destiny (iss module) , narrative , ethnography , conviction , construct (python library) , social psychology , psychology , sociology , epistemology , political science , law , anthropology , linguistics , philosophy , physics , astronomy , computer science , programming language
Researchers have long held that fatalism (the belief in a lack of personal power or control over destiny or fate) constitutes a major barrier to participation in positive health behaviors and, subsequently, adversely affects health outcomes. In this article, we present two in‐depth, ethnographic studies of rural women's health decisions surrounding cancer treatments to illustrate the complexity and contestability of the long‐established fatalism construct. Narrative analyses suggest that for these women, numerous and complex factors—including inadequate access to health services, a legacy of self‐reliance, insufficient privacy, combined with a culturally acceptable idiom of fatalism—foster the use of, but not necessarily a rigid conviction in, the notion of fatalism.