Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems
- The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Problems Related to Health, Safety, and Security
- Chapter 1 Illness and Health Care
- Chapter 2 Mental Illness and Social Problems
- Chapter 3 Substance Abuse
- Chapter 4 Epidemics, Pandemics, and Outbreaks
- Chapter 5 Disaster as Social Problem and Social Construct
- Chapter 6 Surveillance
- Chapter 7 Domestic Spying: A Historical-Comparative Perspective
- Chapter 8 Computer Hacking as a Social Problem
- Chapter 9 War and Militarism
- Chapter 10 The Social Problem of Terrorism
- Chapter 11 Genocide
- Part II Problems Related to Crime and Violence
- Part III Problems of Global Impact
- Index
- References
Chapter 4 - Epidemics, Pandemics, and Outbreaks
from Part I - Problems Related to Health, Safety, and Security
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2018
- The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems
- The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems
- Copyright page
- Contents
- About the Contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Problems Related to Health, Safety, and Security
- Chapter 1 Illness and Health Care
- Chapter 2 Mental Illness and Social Problems
- Chapter 3 Substance Abuse
- Chapter 4 Epidemics, Pandemics, and Outbreaks
- Chapter 5 Disaster as Social Problem and Social Construct
- Chapter 6 Surveillance
- Chapter 7 Domestic Spying: A Historical-Comparative Perspective
- Chapter 8 Computer Hacking as a Social Problem
- Chapter 9 War and Militarism
- Chapter 10 The Social Problem of Terrorism
- Chapter 11 Genocide
- Part II Problems Related to Crime and Violence
- Part III Problems of Global Impact
- Index
- References
Summary
How do epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks become recognized as social problems? In this chapter, we suggest that the constructionist perspective focuses on the perception of these phenomena as social problems, often neglecting their materiality. A complementary approach, organized by the concept of medicalization, directs attention to the processes of authority and social control that both produce and regulate epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks as social problems. In our view, these approaches, while important for the study of medicalized social problems more generally, are somewhat ill-suited to the study of epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks. Accordingly, we turn to Michel Foucault's conceptualization of governmentality, refracted through the lens of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), as an alternative approach. This yields a perspective on epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks that arcs back to materiality and also brings attention to the actor-networks, processes, and practices that (imperfectly) translate these phenomena into social problems. As we argue, this method of analysis should consider, at a minimum, (1) cultural understandings about bodily vulnerability; (2) social processes of stigmatization and marginalization; (3) structural inequalities and structural violence; and (4) public health efforts to detect and preempt disease spread.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Social Problems , pp. 59 - 78Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018
References
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