Gender and the Social Construction of Illness / Edition 2

by Judith Lorber

Overview

I G N S review of "Gender and the Social Construction of Illness" In this timely and perceptive volume from The Gender Lens series, Judith Lorber considers the interface between gender as a social institution on one hand and Western medicine as a social institution on the other. Focusing on illnesses considered to be physical, Lorber brings a feminist viewpoint to analyze issues of power and politics, which have pervaded the study of both gender and medicine in recent times. Like many of its counterparts in The Gender Lens series, this brief book is an ideal supplemental reading for a number of courses, including but by no means limited to medical sociology, medical anthropology, and the history of medicine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900759102384
Publication date:	08/15/2002
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.11(w) x 9.17(h) x 0.43(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