Disability and the sociology of health and illness

Thomas, Gareth M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-2337 2023. Disability and the sociology of health and illness. Petersen, Alan, ed. Handbook on the Sociology of Health and Medicine, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 378-392. (10.4337/9781839104756.00033)

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Abstract

In this chapter, I provide an overview of disability as a category of analysis in the sociology of health and illness. I begin by discussing the lack of dialogue between medical sociology and disability studies. Both disciplines co-exist, yet there are few interdisciplinary exchanges that recognise their associated intersections and inconsistencies. From here, I outline three topics that offer opportunities for merging concepts, ideas, and sentiments from both disciplines. First, I capture how attending to the individual and structural properties of stigma unites concerns of both medical sociologists and disability studies scholars. Second, I show how we can further ponder this disciplinary relationship by considering matters of care, both inside and outside of health and social care services. Third, I recognise the value of medical sociology and disability studies for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of its disproportionate impact on disabled people and its illumination of a troubling history of hostility and indifference to disability. In so doing, I contend that disability aligns with central and longstanding points of interest within sociology, in ways which merit more theoretical and empirical attention.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:	9781839104749
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 November 2022
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2024 14:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/153982

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