Gender and the Social Construction of Illness / Edition 1

by Judith Lorber, Lisa Jean Moore

Overview

Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore consider the interface between the social institutions of gender and Western medicine in this brief, lively textbook. They offer a distinct feminist viewpoint to analyze issues of power and politics concerning physical illness. For a creative, feminist-oriented alternative to traditional texts on medical sociology, medical anthropology, and the history of medicine, this is an ideal choice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803958142
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	08/02/1997
Series:	Gender Lens , #4
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Judith Lorber is Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women's Studies at the Graduate School and Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY). Lisa Jean Moore is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at the Graduate School and the College of Staten Island, CUNY.

Table of Contents

Gender and the Social Construction of Illness
Overview
Women Get Sicker but Men Die Quicker
Social Epidemiology
The Doctor Knows Best
Gender and the Medical Encounter
If a Situation is Defined as Real
Premenstrual Syndrome and Menopause
A Modern Plague
Gender and AIDS
Treating Social Bodies in Social Worlds
Feminist Health Care

Editorial Reviews

Reconfigures familiar concepts in medical sociology to explore how gender, race, class, ethnicity, and culture influence both the experience of symptoms of physical illnesses, and the treatment of the symptoms by the medical establishment. Also offers a gender-informed analysis of the knowledge base and underlying assumptions about illness, and the way questions are asked and research priorities are set. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

Lorber (emerita, sociology and women's studies, City U. of New York) and Moore (sociology, City U. of New York) bring a feminist perspective to the study of medical sociology. They argue that gender, in conjunction with other social identities, elicits different responses in health care personnel; affects the social worth of patients; and influences priorities of treatment, research, and financing. They concentrate on problems that are located in the body, such as infections, AIDS, or nonfunctioning limbs or senses; and physical processes, such as menstruation and menopause, that in Western society have been transformed into illnesses. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR