The Social Constructionist View Of Illness

“I hate living up to other people’s expectations of what a healthy person should be. I hate living up to other people’s expectations of what being sick is” (Miserandino 2). This statement is from Christine Miserandino’s blog, where she writes about her 18+ years of living with lupus. The quote above is significant specifically because of the word ‘expectation’ and what it implies. The use of ‘expectation’ is powerful because it challenges several taken for granted notions, such as normality and what it means to be ‘sick’ or healthy. The expectations that society attaches to healthy and sick bodies is something Talcott Parson grappled with in 1951. By defining the sick role as “medically sanctioned deviant behavior” (Barker 148) that excuses

By saying that something is socially constructed, sociologists are drawing attention to how culture, society, and dominant hegemonic ideas at the macro level influence how people experience illness at an individual level. The social constructionist perspective of illness is trying to challenge the idea that the illness experience is natural. The biggest evidence in support of this claim is the existence of contested illnesses. “Contested illnesses are conditions in which sufferers and their advocates struggle to have medically unexplainable symptoms recognized in orthodox biomedical terms, despite resistance from medical researchers, practitioners, and institutions” (Barker 153). Contested illnesses are very much tied into the idea that society and its dominant ideas and ways of understanding impact the illness experience. My aim in this paper is to prove that the social construction of illness by using Christine’s experience with Lupus as a way to explore the underlying social dynamics at play within a sociological framework of

“Basically I hate letting people see the effects of my disease. I don’t care if they know that I’m sick, I just don’t want them to have to see it, or deal with it” (Miserandino, 3). Christine chooses to deal with her illness by adopting the persona of a healthy person, hiding behind her smile, her funny stories and her calculated sunny disposition. “The illusion started small like putting on extra blush to cover up when my Lupus rash showed. Then I learned how to put on fake eye lashes to fill in when my hair started falling out. A little extra lip gloss goes a long way” (Miserandino, 1). In order to keep up the façade, Christine created a very detailed plan of attack. Lupus can limit physical activity because of relentless pain and fatigue, so Christine’s first step before going out is to figure out her mode of transportation. She decides whether or not she should drive or get a ride. If she chooses to walk, she makes sure that she chooses the right shoes. In regards to her appearance, she decides whether or not to wear her hair down based on how much hair is falling out. She always carries a big pocketbook to hold her medication and emergency items. Nearly every time she plans to go out, she is late to the social function. When that happens, she makes up a lavish story instead of telling the truth. Of course, keeping up the illusion of health is very exhaustive. Christine talks