Sociology Of Diagnosis

Offers an introduction to the sociology of diagnosis. This title presents articles that explore diagnosis as a process of definition that includes: labeling dynamics between diagnoser and diagnosed; boundary struggles between diverse constituents - both among medical practitioners and between medical authorities and others; and, more.

Finalist, Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize, British Sociological Association Over a decade after medical sociologist Phil Brown called for a sociology of diagnosis, Putting a Name to It provides the first book-length, comprehensive framework for this emerging subdiscipline of medical sociology. Diagnosis is central to medicine. It creates social order, explains illness, identifies treatments, and predicts outcomes. Using concepts of medical sociology, Annemarie Goldstein Jutel sheds light on current knowledge about the components of diagnosis to outline how a sociology of diagnosis would function. She situates it within the broader discipline, lays out the directions it should explore, and discusses how the classification of illness and framing of diagnosis relate to social status and order. Jutel explains why this matters not just to doctor-patient relationships but also to the entire medical system. As a result, she argues, the sociological realm of diagnosis encompasses not only the ongoing controversy surrounding revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in psychiatry but also hot-button issues such as genetic screening and pharmaceutical industry disease mongering. Both a challenge and a call to arms, Putting a Name to It is a lucid, persuasive argument for formalizing, professionalizing, and advancing longstanding practice. Jutel’s innovative, open approach and engaging arguments will find support among medical sociologists and practitioners and across much of the medical system.

Understanding the social process of diagnosis is critical to improving doctor-patient relationships and health outcomes. Diagnosis, the classification tool of medicine, serves an important social role. It confers social status on those who diagnose, and it impacts the social status of those diagnosed. Studying diagnosis from a sociological perspective offers clinicians and students a rich and sometimes provocative view of medicine and the cultures in which it is practiced. Social Issues in Diagnosis describes how diagnostic labels and the process of diagnosis are anchored in groups and structures as much as they are in the interactions between patient and doctor. The sociological perspective is informative, detailed, and different from what medical, nursing, social work, and psychology students—and other professionals who diagnose or work with diagnoses—learn in a pathophysiology or clinical assessment course. It is precisely this difference that should be integral to student and clinician education, enriching the professional experience with improved doctor-patient relationships and potentially better health outcomes. Chapters are written by both researchers and educators and reviewed by medical advisors. Just as medicine divides disease into diagnostic categories, so have the editors classified the social aspects of diagnosis into discrete areas of reflection, including • Classification of illness • Process of diagnosis • Phenomenon of uncertainty • Diagnostic labels • Discrimination • Challenges to medical authority • Medicalization • Technological influences • Self-diagnosis Additional chapters by clinicians, including New York Times columnist Lisa Sanders, M.D., provide a view from the front line of diagnosis to round out the discussion. Sociology and pre-med students, especially those prepping for the new MCAT section on social and behavioral sciences, will appreciate the discussion questions, glossary of key terms, and CLASSIFY mnemonic.

This incisive brief guide critically examines the role of medical diagnoses in social life, shining light on both health and disease. Annemarie Goldstein Jutel shows that diagnosis is not simply the labelling of natural disease, but rather is an agreement about what counts as sickness, with far-reaching social consequences. Using a revised social model of diagnosis, Jutel explores diagnosis as both a category and a process. She illustrates that although illness is a fact of nature, medical classification systems are human creations which are shaped by consensus, power, inequity and prejudice. She examines the pervasive effects of diagnosis in non-medical environments, analysing in particular its role in popular culture. Through a detailed case study of the history and social consequences of Alzheimer's disease as a diagnosis, Jutel ultimately argues that a critical sociological perspective is essential to finding new and more effective ways for medicine to function. Providing an advanced understanding of the social aspects of diagnosis in a concise format, this book is an essential guide for students and scholars of health and sociological theory. It is also an important resource for health professionals seeking a deeper understanding of the social phenomena surrounding diagnosis.

Advancements in medical and healthcare technologies pave the way to improving treatments and diagnoses while also streamlining processes to ensure the highest quality care is given to patients. In the last few decades, revolutionary technology has radically progressed the healthcare industry by increasing life expectancy and reducing human error. Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Medicine and Healthcare provides emerging research on bioinformatics, medical ethics, and clinical science in modern applications and settings. While highlighting the challenges medical practitioners and healthcare professionals face when treating patients and striving to optimize their processes, the book shows how revolutionary technologies and methods are vastly improving how healthcare is implemented globally. This book is an important resource for medical researchers, healthcare administrators, doctors, nurses, biomedical engineers, and students looking for comprehensive research on the advancements in healthcare technologies.

"Diagnosis is central to medicine. It creates social order, explains illness, identifies treatments, and predicts outcomes. Using concepts of medical sociology, Annemarie Goldstein Jutel sheds light on current knowledge about the components of diagnosis to outline how a sociology of diagnosis would function. She situates it within the broader discipline, lays out the directions it should explore, and discusses how the classification of illness and framing of diagnosis relate to social status and order. Jutel explains why this matters not just to doctor-patient relationships but also to the entire medical system."--Back cover.

Social theory is open to many passing currents. Claims to originality tend to thrive and past achievements are often ignored. In Sociologiocal Theory: What Went Wrong? Mouzelis claims that "problems" currently being isolated are not really problems, and that "achievements" claimed are little more than pretensions. He argues that we have been premature to dismiss thinkers from the late 1950s and early 1960s and that we can build on their ideas to produce a more effective, more relevant social theory. Written with precision and with clarity, Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? is a compelling analysis of the central problems of sociological theory today and of the means to resolve them.

First Published in 1943. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.