The Medicalization of Exotic Deviance

A Sociological Perspective on Epidemic Koro

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2397486
AutoresR E Bartholomew (0000-0003-0657-0920, James Cook University of North Queensland, autor de correspondencia)
Año1998
Volumen35
Número1
Páginas5-38
Fecha de publicación1998-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136346159803500101
OpenAlexW2049305666
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas92

The premise of this article holds that the typification of individual koro as a medical syndrome has been inappropriately applied to collective episodes, and that based on an examination of their characteristic features koro epidemics should be reclassified as a sociological phenomenon involving mass social delusions. There is neither consistent nor compelling evidence to indicate that participants of collective episodes are psychologically disturbed or exhibiting somatoform reactions, but are experiencing the physiological consequences of anxiety generated by a false belief, and the cognitive consequences of altered perceptual sets. The misclassification of epidemic koro appears to be based on the fantastic, implausible nature of the participants' beliefs per se relative to Eurocentric social realities, and alienated from its local context and meaning

Epistemology · Medicalization · Perception · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research