"Diseases and Diagnoses" discusses why such social problems as
addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, racial predisposition for
illness, surgery and beauty, and electrotherapy, all of which
concerned thinkers a hundred years ago, are reappearing at a
staggering rate and in diverse national contexts. In the twentieth
century such problems were viewed as only historical concerns. Yet
in the twenty-first century, we once again find ourselves
confronting their implications.
In this fascinating volume, Gilman looks at historical and
contemporary debates about the stigma associated with biologically
transmitted diseases. He shows that there is no indisputable way to
measure when a disease or therapy will reappear, or how it may be
perceived at any given moment in time. Consequently, Gilman focuses
on the socio-cultural and political implications that the
reappearance of such diseases has had on contemporary society. His
approach is to show how culture (embedded in cultural objects) both
feeds and is fed by the claims of medical science-as for example,
the reappearance of "race" as a cultural as well as a medical
category.
If the twentieth century was the "age of physics," in the
latter part of the past century and certainly in the twenty-first
century biological concerns are recapturing central stage.
Achievements of the biological sciences are changing the public's
sense of what constitutes cutting-edge science and medicine. None
has captured the public imagination more effectively than the
mapping of the human genome and the promise of genetic
manipulation, which fuel what Gilman calls a "second age of
biology." Although not without controversy, the role of genetics
appears to be key. Gilman puts contemporary debates in historical
context, showing how they feed social and cultural concerns as well
as medical possibilities.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!