Style, discourse and constraint in adjustment to chronic illness

Bibliographic Data

ID2251992
AuthorsAlan Radley (Loughborough University, corresponding author)
Year1989
Volume11
Issue3
Pages230-252
Publication date1989-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.ep11435222
OpenAlexW2047907294
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited35

This paper discusses the problem of adjustment to chronic illness in terms of the demands of the patient's body and the constraints of culture. Criticism is offered of explanations which reduce such adjustment to a form of functional adaptation, either to symptoms or to social expectations taken separately. The argument is made that social constraints are embodied in everyday conduct, while bodily changes are made sensible through meanings engendered within discourse. Utilising findings from a study of coronary patients and their spouses the paper describes differences between the situations of those who confront and oppose illness and those who modify their lives as they accommodate to it. A discussion is offered of the different transformations of illness experience as these relate to the role-settings of those concerned. This is used to set out a general thesis on style as a contextualisation of illness- experience, articulated in the co-ordination of bodily action and social categories

Action (physics · Adaptation (eye · Argument (complex analysis · Cognitive psychology · Constraint (computer-aided design · Criticism · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Set (abstract data type · Sociology · Style (visual arts · Computer Science · Empathy and Medical Education · Hermeneutics and Narrative Identity · Medicine · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Psychology · Social Psychology