SOCPSY 2YY3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault, Middle Ages

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 2YY3
• Professor: Kathleen Steeves

Document Summary

The sociology of mental health: the study of social arrangements that affect mental illness and its consequences". The same behaviour or condition can be labelled and thus treated differently in different time periods or in different places. Several conditions in the dsm are relatively new. Michel foucault (1965) - madness and civilization". Outlined the development of madness (mental health) from the middle ages to his present day society. 18th and 19th centuries - criminals" vs insane". How medical profession has come to take on some problems. 3 forces that drive what aspects of social life become medicalized. The power and authority of the medical profession. Labelling by a doctor suggests that medical solutions need to happen in order to fix biological problem. Doctors are gatekeepers who influence what gets labelled as illness. Some groups might lobby to have certain medical labels given to certain symptomatology in order to legitimize problems to seek treatment.