ANTHROP 3HI3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Narrative, Biomedicine, Sick Role

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHROP 3HI3
• Professor: Priscilla Medeiros

Document Summary

Kleinman makes a significant contribution to illness and disease definitions in the early. Arises in response to patient dissatisfaction with care: he recognizes a gap in the care continuum. Illness and disease discussions began b/c of growing patient dissatisfaction with the healthcare system. Physicians seemed only concerned with treating diseases from a biomedical standpoint. Kleinman argues that biomedicine makes patients into commodities. Rather than helping the chronically ill to deal with suffering, the healthcare system attempts to optimize time, money, and profit. Definition of illness: (cid:862)ho(cid:449) the si(cid:272)k pe(cid:396)so(cid:374) a(cid:374)d the (cid:373)e(cid:373)(cid:271)e(cid:396)s of the fa(cid:373)il(cid:455) o(cid:396) (cid:449)ide(cid:396) social network perceive, live with, and respo(cid:374)d to s(cid:455)(cid:373)pto(cid:373)s a(cid:374)d disa(cid:271)ilit(cid:455)(cid:863) (cid:894)page (cid:1007)(cid:895) Illness (how we describe its experience) is always culturally shaped. The definition of illness carries social and cultural implications. A perso(cid:374)"s sto(cid:396)(cid:455) a(cid:271)out thei(cid:396) ill(cid:374)ess is (cid:272)alled a(cid:374) illness narrative.