Contemporary Issues in Illness Narratives: An Examination of the Controversy in the United Kingdom and North America

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  • 病いの語り研究の現代的課題をさぐる——英米で展開された論争を手がかりに——
  • 病いの語り研究の現代的課題をさぐる : 英米で展開された論争を手がかりに
  • ヤマイイ ノ カタリ ケンキュウ ノ ゲンダイテキ カダイ オ サグル : エイベイ デ テンカイ サレタ ロンソウ オ テガカリ ニ

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Abstract

<p>This paper aims to address contemporary issues in the study of illness narratives by examining the controversy that arose in the United Kingdom and North America in response to Paul Atkinson’s criticism against the special significance or privilege often granted to the narratives. In 1997, Atkinson offered a criticism of qualitative health research in which narratives seemed to be granted special status; he suggested the need to systematically analyze the social context in which they were embedded. The controversy, manifested in reader and peer responses in a UK medical-sociological journal, deepened the dichotomous conflict between the “scientific” and the “ethical.” This paper, pursuant to a critical examination of the dispute, suggests that the study of illness narratives should do the following: (1) clarify the way the study conceptualizes the “social,” specifically with respect to the relation between the “social” and the “individual,” and specify to what extent one should assume a priori what the “social” is; (2) take into account the heterogeneity of the broad term “illness”; and (3) discuss the actual difficulties in the research process.</p>

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