Gender and the Social Construction of Illness

by Judith Lorber, Lisa Jean Moore Purchase College, State University of New York

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. SIGNS labeled the first edition 'a rich and imaginative work.' In the extensively revised second edition of this successful text, the authors add chapters on disability and genital surgeries. They also update and expand their discussions of social epidemiology, AIDS, the health professions, PMS, menopause, and feminist health care. 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:	9780759116559
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	08/20/2002
Series:	Gender Lens
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	1 MB

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

Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Gender and the Social Construction of Illness: Overview
Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Women Get Sicker, but Men Die Quicker: Social Epidemiology
Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Hierarchies in Health Care: Patients, Professionals, and Gender
Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Gender and Disability: Contradictions and Status Dilemmas
Chapter 5
Chapter 5: If a Situation is Defined as Real: Premenstrual Syndrome and Menopause
Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Genital Surgeries: Gendering Bodies
Chapter 7
Chapter 7: A Modern Plague: Gender and Aids
Chapter 8
Chapter 8: Healing Social Bodies in Social Worlds: Feminist Healthcare

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