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dc.contributor.authorLian, Olaug S
dc.contributor.authorBondevik, Hilde
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-04T09:12:19Z
dc.date.available2015-08-04T09:12:19Z
dc.date.issued2015-04-24
dc.description.abstractCulture and history affect the ways in which medical knowledge is shaped, sustained and changed. The less knowledge we have, the larger the space for the cultural imprint becomes. Based on these assumptions, we ask: how have medical constructions of long-term exhaustion changed over time, and how are changing constructions related to societal change? To discuss these questions we conducted a comparative study of medical texts from two historical periods: 1860–1930 and 1970–2013. Our data are limited to two diagnoses: neurasthenia and encephalomyelitis. After comparing the two periods by identifying diverging and converging aspects, we interpreted observed continuities and interruptions in relation to historical developments. We found that in the medical literature, longterm exhaustion became transformed from a somatic ailment bred by modern civilisation to a self-inflicted psychiatric ailment. At the same time, it changed from being a male-connoted high-status condition to a female-connoted low-status condition. We interpret these changes as contingent upon culturally available modes of interpretations. Medical knowledge thereby becomes infused with cultural norms and values which give them a distinct cultural bias. The historical controversies surrounding this medically contested condition neatly display the socially contingent factors that govern the social construction of medical knowledge.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLian, O. S. and Bondevik, H. (2015), Medical constructions of long-term exhaustion, past and present. Sociology of Health & Illness, 37: 920–935en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 1186120
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/1467-9566.12249
dc.identifier.issn0141-9889
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/7892
dc.identifier.urnURN:NBN:no-uit_munin_7476
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccess
dc.subjectchronic fatigue syndromeen_US
dc.subjectchronic illnessen_US
dc.subjectlong-term illnessen_US
dc.subjectmedical knowledgeen_US
dc.subjectsociology of scientific knowledgeen_US
dc.subjectVDP::Medisinske Fag: 700::Helsefag: 800::Samfunnsmedisin, sosialmedisin: 801no
dc.subjectVDP::Medical disciplines: 700::Health sciences: 800::Community medicine, Social medicine: 801en
dc.titleMedical constructions of long-term exhaustion, past and presenten_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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