The DOI matches its Crossref record; 87 of the 87 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 1 of the 28 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
The Social Construction of Illness: Key Insights and Policy Implications
Abstract
The social construction of illness is a major research perspective in medical sociology. This article traces the roots of this perspective and presents three overarching constructionist findings. First, some illnesses are particularly embedded with cultural meaning—which is not directly derived from the nature of the condition—that shapes how society responds to those afflicted and influences the experience of that illness. Second, all illnesses are socially constructed at the experiential level, based on how individuals come to understand and live with their illness. Third, medical knowledge about illness and disease is not necessarily given by nature but is constructed and developed by claims-makers and interested parties. We address central policy implications of each of these findings and discuss fruitful directions for policy-relevant research in a social constructionist tradition. Social constructionism provides an important counterpoint to medicine’s largely deterministic approaches to disease and illness, and it can help us broaden policy deliberations and decisions.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
This article reviews the social construction of illness perspective in medical sociology, tracing its roots and synthesizing three key findings: cultural meanings of illness, the socially constructed illness experience, and socially constructed medical knowledge. It argues these findings have policy implications and can broaden policy deliberations by countering medicine’s largely deterministic approaches.
Key findings
- Some illnesses carry cultural meanings not directly derived from biology, shaping social responses and the experience of illness; examples include stigmatized illnesses (e.g., epilepsy, HIV/AIDS), contested illnesses (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity), and disability as socially constructed. Policy implication: shift emphasis from biomedically fixing individuals toward changing the social and cultural context that gives illnesses negative meaning.
- All illnesses are socially constructed at the experiential level: people enact illness, construct identity, and manage daily life. Research uses in-depth interviews and insider views; Charmaz describes how chronic illness can shrink worlds, and millions of American women identify as breast cancer survivors and activists. Policy implications include moving from “compliance” to context-centered strategies, using illness narratives in pain management, and addressing lay knowledge and illness identities.
- Medical knowledge is socially constructed by claims-makers and interested parties. Feminist, science studies, and medicalization research show how medical ideas can reproduce gender, class, and racial-ethnic inequality and how diagnoses and markets expand—e.g., male impotence was renamed “erectile dysfunction” in the late 1990s, the FDA approved Viagra in 1998, and Pfizer marketed it to a broader audience. Policy implication: critically examine how problems are framed, because definitions shape policy and can authorize social control.
Methods
- Design: conceptual/review article, not an empirical study; it traces intellectual roots and synthesizes constructionist literature over the last 50 years.
- Data/sample: no original data or sample; it draws on prior sociological, historical, and feminist scholarship and case examples.
- Analysis: organizes key findings under three themes—cultural meanings of illness, illness experience, and medical knowledge—then discusses policy implications and future research directions.
Limitations
- The paper states it does not showcase criticisms of social constructionism, though it acknowledges important critiques: that it may deny the natural world, ignore whether some ideas better represent the world, and reproduce a false binary between real and socially constructed (Hacking 1999). It also notes criticisms/limitations of the disease/illness distinction (Timmermans and Haas 2008) and states its amalgam approach “minimizes important differences between various types of social constructionism.”
- Evident from the text: as a review/essay, it presents no systematic review protocol, no empirical data, and no tested policy outcomes; policy implications are illustrative and drawn from cited literature rather than evaluated here.
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Claims the paper makes
13 Sources not found · 3 Own interpretation · 3 No basis given · 2 No full text of the sources · 2 Not checked yet · 1 Partly supported · accuracy not yet measured
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Second, all illnesses are socially constructed at the experiential level, based on how individuals come to understand and live with their illness.”
- Also stated in: § Illness Experience as Socially Constructed · p. 5 · plain
“Another key insight of constructionism is that the illness experience is socially constructed.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Charmaz 1991
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Bury 1982 source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Illness Experience as Socially Constructed · p. 5 · plain
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Third, medical knowledge about illness and disease is not necessarily given by nature but is constructed and developed by claims-makers and interested parties.”
- Also stated in: § Medical Knowledge as Socially Constructed · p. 7 · hedged
“Eliot Freidson (1970) was probably the first medical sociologist to articulate how medical knowledge is socially constructed.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Freidson 1970
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Foucault 1977
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Also stated in: § Medical Knowledge as Socially Constructed · p. 7 · hedged
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“The research of medical sociologists in the subfield of science studies also reveals how medical knowledge is conditioned by the social context in which it is developed.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Joyce 2008
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Timmermans 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Likewise, the engines of medicalization have expanded beyond medical professionals, social movements, and organizations to biotechnology, consumers, and the insurance industry.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“In an earlier book, Epstein (1996) similarly underscored the politics of knowledge by demonstrating how the science regarding the cause and treatment of HIV/AIDS is best understood as an amalgam that was constructed and contested by different constituencies (e.g., scientists, doctors, drug companies, patients, and activists) rather than the outcome of 'pure' science.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Epstein 1996
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Even as this new paradigm offers potential tools for addressing nagging questions about health disparities-e.g., why do black women with breast cancer have higher mortality rates than their white counterparts?-it has the consequence of reifying the categories of race and gender as biological realities.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Epstein 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“In a recent book Epstein (2007) analyzes the emergence, beginning in the mid-1980s, of a new paradigm of biomedical research that proactively included individuals from underrepresented social groups (e.g., women and racial and ethnic minorities) in clinical studies, with an eye toward understanding the differences between groups with respect to disease processes and treatment outcomes.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Epstein 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Epstein explains how the knowledge it produces about race and gender are in part the outcome of social and political conflicts and negotiations, as opposed to essential truths found in nature.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Epstein 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Not matched
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Over the years, sociologists have shown that women's natural reproductive functions (e.g., pregnancy, childbirth, menstruation) are routinely medicalized (Barker 1998; Riessman 1983; Riska 2003).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Barker 1998 source
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Riessman 1983
- Not matchedcites Riska 2003
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“When medical perspectives increasingly define obesity as an illness (rather than a risk factor for diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.), policies focus on solutions such as gastric bypass surgeries, rather than examining the role of product promotion by the food industry or the availability of healthy foods in neighborhoods with high rates of obesity.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- It may state two separate claims as one. 7
- Probably not a substantial claim. 5
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“First, some illnesses are particularly embedded with cultural meaning-which is not directly derived from the nature of the condition-that shapes how society responds to those afflicted and influences the experience of that illness.”
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 3 · plain
“certain illnesses have particular social or cultural meanings attributed to them. These meanings adhere to the illness and may have independent consequences on patients and health care.”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Sontag 1978
- Partly supportedcites Barry et al. 2009 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The introductory discussion of illness metaphors and the “Reasoning by Metaphor” section show how meanings attached to health conditions shape public attitudes and policy responses. The “Obesity Metaphors” section also describes how people who are overweight may be treated badly in work and social settings. The paper does not establish the broader claim that such meanings are independent of a condition’s nature or generally shape the experience of illness. Page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 3 · plain
In the paper
“A social constructionist approach to illness is rooted in the widely recognized conceptual distinction between disease (the biological condition) and illness (the social meaning of the condition) (Eisenberg 1977).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Eisenberg 1977 source
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Contested illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, and multiple chemical sensitivity are medically suspect because they are not associated with any known physical abnormality.”
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 4 · plain
“contested illness sufferers are burdened by the cultural meaning of a medically invisible condition in an era of high-tech biomedicine”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Barker 2005
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Brown 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Kroll-Smith and Floyd 1997
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 4 · plain
None of the sources cited for this claim could be matched to a paper in Crossref, so there is nothing to check it against.
In the paper
“Because the attributes that are deemed disabilities, and the very meaning of being disabled, vary across time and space, disability cannot be reduced to a mere biological problem located in an individual's body”
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 4 · plain
“the body has an impairment (e.g., loss of limb) while society creates the disability”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Barnes, Mercer, and Shakespeare 1999
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not matchedcites Oliver 1996
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Also stated in: § Cultural Meanings of Illness · p. 4 · plain
In the paper
“there is nothing inherent about a condition that makes it stigmatizing; rather, it is the social response to the condition and some of its manifestations, or the type of individuals who suffer from it, that make a condition stigmatized”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Conrad 1987
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“The emphasis is on how meanings of phenomena do not necessarily inhere in the phenomena themselves but develop through interaction in a social context.”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Berger and Luckman 1966
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“After all, any policy response to a problem is determined by how the problem is defined or framed in the first place.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Warnings about the risks of fetal alcohol syndrome effectively blame individual women and deflect attention away from the well-established links among class, race, and birth outcomes (Armstrong 2003).”
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Armstrong 2003
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Both the boundaries of the ED diagnosis and the markets for ED drugs expanded enormously (Conrad 2007).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Conrad 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“When the solution is to mandate that federally funded clinical studies include individuals from underrepresented subgroups, we inadvertently cast the problem as rooted in biological differences between racial and ethnic groups and downplay the role of socially structured inequalities (Epstein 2007).”
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Epstein 2007
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“For example, Prempro, a widely prescribed hormone replacement drug, is just the latest in the ongoing effort to medically 'treat' menopausal 'symptoms,' despite the fact that changes associated with menopause are a common and ordinary aspect of women's reproductive lives.”
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Rests on an assumption: Changes associated with menopause are a common and ordinary aspect of women's reproductive lives.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Framing anger in women as evidence of the disease PMS, to be treated with antidepressants, trivializes the impact of gender inequality on women's daily lives.”
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
The paper relies on this without support.
Changes associated with menopause are a common and ordinary aspect of women's reproductive lives.
“despite the fact that changes associated with menopause are a common and ordinary aspect of women's reproductive lives.”
The paper relies on this without support.
There is a social predilection toward treating human problems as individual or clinical rather than addressing the underlying causes for complex social problems and human suffering.
“It seems that we have a social predilection toward treating human problems as individual or clinical—whether it be obesity, substance abuse, learning difficulties, aging, or alcoholism—rather than addressing the underlying causes for complex social problems and human suffering.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Compared to 50 years ago, physicians have experienced a relative decline in professional authority.
“Compared to 50 years ago, physicians have experienced a relative decline in professional authority.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Laypeople with illness have a greater voice, and there is greater recognition of that voice.
“Both reflecting and reinforcing this trend, laypeople with illness have a greater voice, and there is also greater recognition of that voice.”
Citations
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“An indication that illness experience has become public or collective is the emergence of ‘illness subcultures’, and ‘illness-based social movements’ [4], which are becoming a significant driving force behind the self-empowerment of lay people in matters of illness and being ill, thereby challenging the domination and…”
BackgroundInfluentialA Healthy Dose of Race? White Students’ and Teachers’ Unintentional Brushes with Whiteness
Schulz, S., & Fane, J. (2015) · The Australian journal of teacher education · doi:10.14221/ajte.2015v40n11.8 · Cited by 13
“The Health topic was informed by social critique and grounded in opening students to the idea of health as a social construction (see for example Burr, 2003; Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
MethodBell, L., & Pearce, G. (2021) · Children s Health Care · doi:10.1080/02739615.2021.1960165 · Cited by 12
Fitts, M. S., Cullen, J., Kingston, G., Johnson, Y., Wills, E., & Soldatić, K. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20021607 · Cited by 13
“A general assumption is made that illnesses and disabilities are universal and invariant to the cultural and social contexts in which they exist [41].”
BackgroundVenville, A., Street, A. F., & Fossey, E. M. (2014) · International Journal of Inclusive Education · doi:10.1080/13603116.2014.881568 · Cited by 15
“Conrad and Barker (2010) suggest that mental illnesses ‘have both biomedical and experiential dimensions’ (S69), and often the social meanings attributed to them are overlooked.”
BackgroundInfluentialSanuade, O. A. (2018) · Wellcome Open Research · doi:10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14674.1 · Cited by 13
Yeshua‐Katz, D., Rains, S. A., Peterson, E. B., & Wright, K. B. (2019) · The Information Society · doi:10.1080/01972243.2019.1685038 · Cited by 13
Recent developments in school social control
Ramey, D. M. (2019) · Sociology Compass · doi:10.1111/soc4.12743 · Cited by 16
Vanderslott, S. (2020) · Nature and Culture · doi:10.3167/nc.2020.150105 · Cited by 13
Gillon, A., & Pausé, C. (2021) · Fat Studies · doi:10.1080/21604851.2021.1906525 · Cited by 17
“Conrad and Barker (2010) note that “social constructivism is a conceptual framework that emphasizes the cultural and historical aspects of phenomena widely thought to be exclusively natural” (S67).”
BackgroundCazeau, S., & Ho, I. K. (2021) · Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion · doi:10.1177/26320770211049257 · Cited by 16
“These cultural meanings impact the way the illness is experienced, how the illness is perceived, the social response to the illness, and what policies are created concerning the illness (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundSudarsan, I., Hoare, K., Sheridan, N., & Roberts, J. (2022) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.15217 · Cited by 12
“This concept is widely used to explain the concept of illness (Berger & Luckmann, 1991; Burr, 2003; Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
MethodTucker, R. V., Gunning, J. N., Hintz, E. A., & Denes, A. (2024) · Communication Studies · doi:10.1080/10510974.2024.2344404 · Cited by 15
“This allusivity renders many chronic pain conditions as contested illnesses, where symptoms are “suspect because they are not associated with any known physical abnormality” (Conrad & Barker, 2010, p. 70).”
BackgroundGoing to work sick: A scoping review of illness presenteeism among physicians and medical trainees
Madrazo, L., Choo‐Foo, J., Yu, W., LaDonna, K. A., Domecq, M., & Humphrey-Murto, S. M. (2024) · Medical Education · doi:10.1111/medu.15538 · Cited by 12
“77 Particularly in the articles related to mental health-related IP, we see that different disease states can have sociocultural implications and meanings.”
Giménez-Ayala, A., González, N., de Árias, A. R., et al. (2018) · Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s10389-018-0908-6 · Cited by 12
“…of health policies related to leishmaniases, since they describe the disease in the social context of the study population, the problem in its real context, providing a conceptual base for the formulation of strategies, on the basis of individual and collective experiences (Conrad and Barker 2010).”
BackgroundPatient-reported Outcome Measures – A Call for More Narrative Evidence
Meadows, K. (2021) · Journal of Patient Experience · doi:10.1177/23743735211049666 · Cited by 13
“But also the individual’s social construction of the illness experience where culture and individual personality play a significant role (15).”
BackgroundRatnayake, S. (2021) · Medical Humanities · doi:10.1136/medhum-2021-012210 · Cited by 12
“…and discourse into previously non- medicalised areas of life in a manner usually accompanied by claims of disorder and disease (Conrad 1975; Conrad and Barker 2010); Conrad does not separate medicalisation from pathologisation—a point of disagreement with the likes of Joan Busfield (2017)…”
BackgroundDiagnosing social ills: Theorising social determinants of health as a diagnostic category.
Gutin, I. (2023) · Sociology of Health and Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13623 · Cited by 9
Burnout – eine sinnvolle Diagnose? Kritische Überlegungen zu einem populären Begriff
Thalhammer, M., & Paulitsch, K. (2014) · Neuropsychiatrie · doi:10.1007/s40211-014-0106-x · Cited by 17
Critical Psychiatry, Critical Psychology, and the Behaviorism of B. F. Skinner
Goddard, M. J. (2014) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/gpr0000012 · Cited by 13
“…Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III), in which behavioral symptoms were transformed from broad failures to adapt to the environment (that were continuous with normality) to entities reflecting an underlying disease process (Mayes & Horwitz, 2005; see also Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
Nowakowski, A. C. H. (2016) · The Qualitative Report · doi:10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2296 · Cited by 12
A Messy Trajectory: From Medical Sociology to Crip Theory
Egner, J. E. (2016) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1479-354720160000009009 · Cited by 13
Is Mental Illness Socially Constructed
McCann, J. J. (2016) · Insight (University of Cumbria) · Cited by 12
The healthy lifestyle in longevity narratives
Jaye, C., Young, J. E., Egan, R., Llewellyn, R., Cunningham, W. K., & Radue, P. (2018) · Social Theory & Health · doi:10.1057/s41285-018-0062-9 · Cited by 27
Goulart, M. D. A., Marchi, R. J. D., Padilha, D. M. P., Brondani, M., & MacEntee, M. I. (2018) · Community Dentistry And Oral Epidemiology · doi:10.1111/cdoe.12440 · Cited by 12
What public health interventions do people in Canada prefer to fund? A discrete choice experiment
Card, K. G., Adshade, M., Hogg, R. S., Jollimore, J., & Lachowsky, N. J. (2022) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-022-13539-5 · Cited by 12
Morality Work among the Transabled
Davis, J. L. (2014) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2014.855103 · Cited by 14
Cancer survivorship and identity: what about the role of oncology social workers?
Greenblatt, A., & Lee, E. (2018) · Social Work in Health Care · doi:10.1080/00981389.2018.1521893 · Cited by 12
“Different from biologically based disease, illness is socially constructed and its meaning is negotiated individually and interpersonally; it can be conceptualized, assigned with particular meanings, and incorporated into one’s identity in varied ways (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundMedical Sociology and Sociological Theory
Cockerham, W. C., & Scambler, G. (2021) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781119633808.ch2 · Cited by 15
Donnelly, S., Wilson, A. G., Mannan, H., Dix, C., Whitehill, L., & Kroll, T. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248151 · Cited by 11
“This can lead to a questioning of the authenticity of the person’s symptoms and their mental health [18].”
BackgroundLay Pharmacovigilance and the Dramatization of Risk: Fluoroquinolone Harm on YouTube
Barker, K. K. (2019) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.1177/0022146519888242 · Cited by 11
“…the risk experience, with key contributions of the illness experience scholarship, which emphasizes lay knowledge as a window into the lived experience of suffering, as well as its potential to challenge medicine’s epistemic authority (Barker 2005; Brown 1992; Conrad and Barker 2010; Epstein 1995).”
BackgroundSelf-citationAsaad, M., Forde, R., Al-Fares, A., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1080/17482631.2022.2107151 · Cited by 11
“Alternative designs such as interpretive phenomenologies attempt to interpret the experiences of participants, potentially making them more meaningful whilst recognizing the researcher’s inability to gain an “insider’s perspective” (Conrad & Barker, 2010; Harper et al., 2011).”
BackgroundUnderstanding Addiction: A Threefold Phenomenological Approach
Copoeru, I. (2014) · Human Studies · doi:10.1007/s10746-013-9307-8 · Cited by 12
“3 Conrad and Barker (2010) are outlining the policy implications of the constructionist findings in medical sociology.”
BackgroundRepresentation of People’s Decisions in Health Information Systems
de Quirós, F. G. B., Dawidowski, A. R., & Figar, S. (2017) · Methods of Information in Medicine · doi:10.3414/me16-05-0001 · Cited by 12
“The recognition of this added complexity will lead us to acknowledge the decision process itself, taking into consideration that people are not passive re-ceptacles of information; instead, they transform the information and its meanings based on their experiences, beliefs and social context [33].”
BackgroundInfluential‘Similar but different’: Social representations of health according to gender for French youth
Aim, M., Lelaurain, S., Khatmi, N., Fonte, D., Бовина, И. Б., & Dany, L. (2018) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/1359105318781894 · Cited by 11
“The social construction of women’s and men’s health and illness (Conrad and Barker, 2010) has been highlighted, notably through bodily issues, throughout”
BackgroundSaleh, J. S., & Dahiya, M. (2020) · Journal of Cutaneous Pathology · doi:10.1111/cup.13680 · Cited by 11
“Social construction is defined as a theory of knowledge that has been shaped by the values, interests, or practices of a culture or society.(12-14) Social media has revolutionized communication in healthcare, allowing dermatologists, pathologists, and patients to connect and interact with each other regardless of time…”
BackgroundBey, G. (2020) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.92248 · Cited by 14
“In the case of identity pathology, environmental interventions, which have been well-described in extant theory [1, 37], involve abolishing the policies and practices which maintain and promote inequity within social institutions and the inequitable distribution of healthimpacting resources.”
BackgroundThe social shaping of a diagnosis in Next Generation Sequencing
Kuiper, J. M. L., Borry, P., Vears, D. F., et al. (2021) · New Genetics and Society · doi:10.1080/14636778.2020.1853514 · Cited by 11
“…syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome, and illnesses that are considered to be increasingly “medicalized”, including depression and hyperactivity, but can be recognized more broadly (Bowker and Star 1999; Danforth and Navarro 2001; Bröer and Besseling 2017; Conrad and Barker 2010; Nettleton 2006).”
BackgroundIbanez-Gonzalez, D. L. (2014) · Global Health Action · doi:10.3402/gha.v7.25317 · Cited by 11
Atkins, L. C. (2015) · Qualitative Inquiry · doi:10.1177/1077800415574911 · Cited by 11
“As individuals are actively involved in the production and consumption of health knowledge, they are increasingly likely to embrace new illness identities (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
Stürmer, S., Rohmann, A., Mazziotta, A., Siem, B., & Barbarino, M. (2016) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12354 · Cited by 11
Plague before the Pandemics: The Greek Medical Evidence for Bubonic Plague before the Sixth Century
Mulhall, J. (2019) · Bulletin of the history of medicine · doi:10.1353/bhm.2019.0025 · Cited by 11
Ramazanu, S., Leung, D. Y. P., & Chiang, C. L. V. (2020) · Journal of Nursing Research · doi:10.1097/jnr.0000000000000392 · Cited by 17
“On the other hand, cultural factors affecting stroke recovery target the recovery-related cultural beliefs of couples (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundThe Social Course of Fibromyalgia: Resisting Processes of Marginalisation
Brown, N. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19010333 · Cited by 11
“Within these conceptualisations, illness is seen as constructed at three different levels, as it is embedded with cultural meaning, but also defined at an experiential level and shaped by the medical discourses [39].”
BackgroundLessard, É., O’Brien, N., Panaite, A., Leclaire, M., Castonguay, G., Rouly, G., & Boivin, A. (2024) · BMC Family Practice · doi:10.1186/s12875-024-02548-5 · Cited by 11
“Data analysis was grounded in a constructivist approach, which positions meaning and experiences as socially produced and reproduced [44].”
MethodDeady, M. (2012) · Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy · doi:10.4172/2155-6105.s8-002 · Cited by 10
“In particular, people with AOD problems can become immersed in the daily aspects of managing their use, becoming increasingly cut off from conventional life, with nothing outside of their use to look forward to [80].”
BackgroundInfluentialDoan, A. E., Candal, C. C., & Sylvester, S. M. (2017) · Law & Policy · doi:10.1111/lapo.12094 · Cited by 14
Hintz, E. A., & Suk, J. (2023) · Communication Monographs · doi:10.1080/03637751.2023.2290188 · Cited by 10
Kriegler, S. (2014) · Children & Society · doi:10.1111/chso.12097 · Cited by 10
Obesity Acceptance: Body Positivity and Clinical Risk Factors
McWhorter, K. L. (2021) · IntechOpen eBooks · doi:10.5772/intechopen.93540 · Cited by 13
Casanova, F. O., Knaul, F. M., & Rodriguez, N. M. (2021) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/10497323211003542 · Cited by 10
“The exclusion of lay perspectives can perpetuate social and structural health inequities (Brown et al., 2004; Conrad & Barker, 2010; Krieger, 2011).”
BackgroundPrice, K. A., & Hill, M. R. (2021) · Communication Research and Practice · doi:10.1080/22041451.2021.2006113 · Cited by 12
“This position is consistent with ‘a social constructionist approach to illness that is rooted in the widely recognized conceptual distinction between disease (the biological condition) and illness (the social meaning of the condition)’ (Conrad & Barker, 2010, p. S67).”
BackgroundHenderson, J. N. (2015) · Care management journals · doi:10.1891/1521-0987.16.2.95 · Cited by 10
“Illness dynamics have been examined in a multitude of ways (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundLiving with Rheumatic Heart Disease at the Intersection of Biomedical and Aboriginal Worldviews
Haynes, E., Marawili, M., Marika, M., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19084650 · Cited by 10
Rethinking Prayer and Health Research: An Exploratory Inquiry on Prayer’s Psychological Dimension
Andreescu, A. (2011) · International Journal of Transpersonal Studies · doi:10.24972/ijts.2011.30.1-2.23 · Cited by 12
“…Glover, 2010; Speraw, 2009), by the religious function of modern medicine (Wardlaw, 2011), by the inadequate theorizing of health and illness (e.g., Conrad & Barker, 2010; Murray, 2004; Stam, 2000), by the moral dimensions of stigma (e.g., Jackson, 2005; Yang et al., 2007), or by the extent to…”
Cockerham, W. (2011) · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756384-0034 · Cited by 10
Tal, L., & Goodman, Y. (2023) · Culture Medicine and Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s11013-023-09825-5 · Cited by 9
A Discourse of Deviance: Blame, Shame, Stigma and the Social Construction of Head and Neck Cancer
Thamm, C., McCarthy, A. L., & Yates, P. M. (2023) · Qualitative Health Research · doi:10.1177/10497323231213819 · Cited by 9
“Health is often constructed as the normal state and diseases such as cancer are seen as a deviation of this norm (Conrad & Barker, 2010), which are therefore susceptible to stigma.”
BackgroundWolfe, B. H., & Hintz, E. A. (2024) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2024.108354 · Cited by 9
Ng, H. L., Wu, X. V., Yap, S. Y., Yeo, S. N. B., Diño, M. J. S., & Jiang, Y. (2024) · Seminars in Oncology Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2024.151753 · Cited by 10
Adejumo, O. A., Jinabhai, C. C., Daniel, O. J., et al. (2025) · Quality of Life Research · doi:10.1007/s11136-025-03902-5 · Cited by 9
“Patients are not concerned about bacteriological cures alone; their well-being, functional capacity, and illness experiences are equally important [3].”
Sick but healthy: bariatric patients and the social construction of illness and disability
Stevens, C. (2020) · Sociology of Health & Illness · doi:10.1111/1467-9566.13074 · Cited by 11
Wigan, R., Vaughan, C., Vodstrcil, L. A., Doyle, M. L., Kaiser, M., McGuiness, C., Bradshaw, C. S., & Bilardi, J. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235286 · Cited by 9
“Different health conditions can be imbued with varied meanings in cultural and social contexts, affecting the way in which they are viewed and experienced [33].”
BackgroundTeh, W. L., Samari, E., Cetty, L., Roystonn, K., Devi, F., Shahwan, S., Chandwani, N., & Subramaniam, M. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252913 · Cited by 10
“by sociocultural forces, providing social meaning to the experience of a disease [2].”
BackgroundWho Belongs, and How Far? Refugees and Bureaucrats Within the German Active Welfare State
Menke, K., & Rumpel, A. (2022) · Social Inclusion · doi:10.17645/si.v10i1.4646 · Cited by 9
How the Incomplete Medicalization of Cannabis Shapes Patient Experiences
Reid, M. (2023) · Sociological Focus · doi:10.1080/00380237.2022.2163014 · Cited by 10
Alarcão, V., Machado, F. L., & Giami, A. (2015) · Sexual & Relationship Therapy · doi:10.1080/14681994.2015.1088643 · Cited by 10
“Indeed, at first, medical sociologists gave important insights, namely on the cultural meanings of diagnosing illness and illness experience (Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundSocial Context, Biology, and the Definition of Disorder
Horwitz, A. V. (2017) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.1177/0022146517705165 · Cited by 9
Cane, T. P. C. (2018) · Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare · doi:10.1016/j.srhc.2018.04.001 · Cited by 9
“Page 3 of 23 assess them, citing stigma and discrimination [5,8,9,10].”
Mabuza, M. P., & Shumba, C. S. (2018) · Journal of Public Health in Africa · doi:10.4081/jphia.2018.770 · Cited by 9
Østbye, S. V., Kvamme, M. F., Wang, C. E. A., Haavind, H., Waage, T., & Risør, M. B. (2018) · Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine · doi:10.1177/1363459318785696 · Cited by 11
“…research that suggests that, in order to help patients cope with chronic illness, a holistic approach that supports the process of meaning making is a more valid approach than a strictly medical focus emphasising symptom reduction (Conrad and Barker, 2010; Davidson and Chan, 2014; Wampold, 2001).”
BackgroundRobles, A. F. (2018) · Anthropologie et santé · doi:10.4000/anthropologiesante.4341 · Cited by 17
Holmberg, S. (2019) · International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being · doi:10.1080/17482631.2019.1690391 · Cited by 9
“Social encounters, in turn, are influenced by historical and cultural norms and by the economic structures of society (Burr, 2015; Conrad & Barker, 2010).”
BackgroundLink, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316471289.024 · Cited by 11
Bey, G. (2022) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115495 · Cited by 11
Medicalização, risco e controle social
Mitjavila, M. R. (2015) · Tempo Social · doi:10.1590/0103-20702015015 · Cited by 12
Burnett, E., Johnston, B. M., Kearney, N., Corlett, J., & MacGillivray, S. A. (2012) · American Journal of Infection Control · doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2012.05.026 · Cited by 11
“It's such a vicious cycle”: Narrative accounts of the sportsperson with epilepsy
Collard, S. S., & Marlow, C. (2016) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2016.01.007 · Cited by 9
van Bemmel, K., & van der Weegen, K. (2017) · Anthropology and Medicine · doi:10.1080/13648470.2017.1361652 · Cited by 9
Yeshua‐Katz, D., Shvarts, S., & Segal‐Engelchin, D. (2019) · Israel Journal of Health Policy Research · doi:10.1186/s13584-019-0338-0 · Cited by 9
Metadata
- Authors
- Conrad, P., & Barker, K. K.
- Affiliations
- Brandeis University (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- ORCID
- Barker, Kristin K.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-03
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 1_suppl
- Pages
- S67-S79
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-6000
- OpenAlex
- W2105392510
- Semantic Scholar
- daba8e41984f917378dc8db2be9f01f2883d3625
- Cited by
- 888
- References
- 82
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 77 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 79 · 2018: 57 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 52 · 2015: 60 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 13.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, Medicine and Society
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative research in health
- Keywords
- social construction of illness, medical sociology, illness experience, claims-making, health policy, policy-relevant research
- MeSH terms
- Culture, Disease, Health Policy, Health Services Research, Humans, Public Opinion, Social Problems, Sociology, Medical, Knowledge
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