Dementia as Zeitgeist

Social Problem Construction and the Role of a Contemporary Distraction

Bibliographic Data

ID2392119
AuthorsJonathan Parker (0000-0002-3817-4781, Bournemouth University, corresponding author), Clare Cutler (Bournemouth University), Vanessa Heaslip (0000-0003-2037-4002, Bournemouth University)
Year2021
Volume26
Issue2
Pages309-325
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1360780420929033
OpenAlexW3026119451
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited55

The global impact of dementia on social, political, economic, and health systems is of contemporary concern. As the world's population ages, differentially, across countries in the Global North and Global South, dementia research and care have become embedded in primary mandates for action within the agendas of governments and health research and service organisations. Using notions of social problem construction and sociologies of legitimacy, this article seeks to explore dementia as Zeitgeist that has captured imaginations but as such is contingent and therefore precarious building an edifice that may be limited and may occlude dangers for people living with dementia. This article argues for an applied sociological approach that recognises precarity and seeks to embed a sustainable praxis-focused axiology at macro, meso, and micro levels in respect of approaches to dementia

Dementia · Disease · Political science · Praxis · Social science · Sociology · Zeitgeist · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Medicine · Mental Health and Patient Involvement