Something Old, Something New...: Sociology and the Organisation of Psychiatry
- 1 May 1994
- journal article
- other
- Published by SAGE Publications in Sociology
- Vol. 28 (2) , 521-538
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038594028002009
Abstract
Whilst sociology has taken a consistent interest in psychiatry, theoretical and methodological approaches have varied. This paper summarises three versions of the sociology of psychiatry (social causationism, interpretive micro-sociology and structuralism). These are then contrasted with the more recent post-structuralist emphasis on deconstruction. The latter has emphasised a discursive shift in psychiatry since Victorian times, from brain to mind, from coercion to voluntarism, and from hospital to community. The advantages and disadvantages of such an analysis are examined. It is concluded that this analysis has been illuminating but that the older approaches it challenges still have merits. The implications of attempting to reconcile these approaches to the analysis of contemporary psychiatry are discussed.Keywords
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