The Medicalization of Exotic Deviance

A Sociological Perspective on Epidemic Koro

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2397486
AutoresR E Bartholomew (0000-0003-0657-0920, James Cook University of North Queensland, autor correspondente)
Ano1998
Volume35
Fascículo1
Páginas5-38
Data de publicação1998-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTranscultural Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1363-4615 • E-ISSN: 1461-7471
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/136346159803500101
OpenAlexW2049305666
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências 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