Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age

by David B. Morris

We become ill in ways our parents and grandparents did not, with diseases unheard of and treatments undreamed of by them. Illness has changed in the postmodern era—roughly the period since World War II—as dramatically as technology, transportation, and the texture of everyday life. Exploring these changes, David B. Morris tells the fascinating story, or stories, of what goes into making the postmodern experience of illness different, perhaps unique. Even as he decries the overuse and misuse of the term "postmodern," Morris shows how brightly ideas of illness, health, and postmodernism illuminate one another in late-twentieth-century culture.

Modern medicine traditionally separates disease—an objectively verified disorder—from illness—a patient's subjective experience. Postmodern medicine, Morris says, can make no such clean distinction; instead, it demands a biocultural model, situating illness at the crossroads of biology and culture. Maladies such as chronic fatigue syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder signal our awareness that there are biocultural ways of being sick.

The biocultural vision of illness not only blurs old boundaries but also offers a new and infinitely promising arena for investigating both biology and culture. In many ways Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age leads us to understand our experience of the world differently.

Genres: Psychology, Medicine, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published September 27, 1998

Reviews

[Anthony Salazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morris' thoughts on illness linked to culture falls short on a newly developed understanding of social perceptions of illness, though makes up for it in a detailed understanding of modern vs postmodern illness.

[Blake Strother · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an era of a global pandemic, this text has something valuable to say! David Morris uses a broad array of culture and science to argue for a biocultural approach to science. I gave this book 3 stars simply because much of the information in this particular edition is dated. In many ways, the medical professions have adopted more and more of a bicultural approach to medicine. However, the dated nature of some of this book also speaks volumes to Morris' prophetic voice. For example, far less people die in the sterile arena of a hospital these days, instead opting to live out their final day in control over there own narrative.

For many, I don't think reading this entire book is necessary but if interested, the following chapters are essential reading:
Chapter 1"The Country of the Ill"
Chapter 4: Reinventing Pain
Chapter 7: The Plot of Suffering
Chapter 8: Illness in the time of Disney.

Many years later this is a solid read but I would love to read something newer that challenges the biomedical model.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

With its emphasis on temporality and historical specificity in illness definitions and experiences, I can see why so many later anthropological and sociological accounts of illness and pain drew on Morris. But I'll admit the short chapter on "the obscene" felt like a digression, never fully connected to illness as potentially obscene or revealing of the obscene. And Morris's ending on "narrative bioethics" and active listening from practitioners as a means of overcoming the alienation and fragmentation of postmodern illness betrays his background as a literature professor, much weaker than the criticisms and recommendations he could have lodged against medical, political, and economic institutions structuring patients' illnesses.

[BozCitac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na trenutke vrlo inkoherentna i neusredsređena knjiga u kojoj se čini da je glavna tema Endi Vorhol a ne nauka i bolesti. Bilo kako bilo, ova knjiga predstavlja kontroverznu ideju da je bolest u današnjem dobu rezultat kako bioloških tako i društvenih faktora, samo što je ta ideja predstavljena na konfuzan način uz mnogo nepovezanih delova i učestalo spominjanje Endija Vorhola koje u većini slučajeva deluje besmisleno. Fridrih Niče se takođe više puta pominje, ali krajnje površno, iako mislim da je njegov život mogao poslužiti kao mnogo bolji primer nekih ideja o bolesti.