Medicalization in Nepal
A Study of the Influence of Westernization on Defining Deviant and Illness Behavior in a Developing Country
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9943666 |
|---|---|
| Authors | L Allen Furr (0000-0002-3044-1996, University of Louisville, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 131-142 |
| Publication date | 2004-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Comparative Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7152 • E-ISSN: 1568-5187 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020715204048314 |
| OpenAlex | W2138667457 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 15 |
One point of debate in discussions of the modernization of developing societies concerns the effects of Westernization on how people in these societies see the world and develop a sense of meaning in light of rapid and often broad-sweeping social and cultural changes. Where Western culture has little influence, traditional and religious based ideologies that define “why people misbehave” dominate modes of thinking, and medicalized definitions of deviant behavior are absent (Conrad 1992).This study of 276 Nepali teachers investigates if definitions of deviant behavior may be influenced by encroaching Westernization. Subjects were presented with a scenario of a 12-year-old girl engaging in deviant behavior. Results indicate that those who were in agreement with certain Western values and cultural tastes were more likely to label the girl’s behavior as a mental illness and to refer her to a Western-style social agent for treatment rather than to a traditional Nepali helper. These findings lend tentative support to the notion that medicalization is a function of Western culture
Ideology · Meaning (existential · Medicalization · Modernization theory · Nepali · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Western culture · Westernization · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Cultural Differences and Values · Gender Studies · Law · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology · Social Psychology
World Mental Health
Deviance and medicalization
Body and Emotion
Personality and Person Perception in Africa
Public conceptions of mental illness
Narrative strategies in medical discourse
The frontier of modern Western medicine in Nepal
The Politics and Problematics of Survey Research
The Social Symbolism of Healing in Nepal
Public Conceptions of Mental Illness in 1950 and 1996
The Second Sickness
Modern Health Services and Health Care Behavior
Medicalization and Social Control
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2021 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |