Sociology of Mental Disorder (8th Edition)
Brand: Pearson
Preface of the book- (located inside the book)
This book presents the major issues and research findings found in the abundant sociological literature on mental disorder. Although a subfield of medical sociology, the study of mental health is a significant area of sociological inquiry. Numerous books and research papers have been published by sociologists on mental problems. For example, a contents analysis of the American Sociological Association's Journal of Health and Social Behavior for the past several years discloses that nearly as man
The title of this book, Sociology of Mental Disorder, reflects its contents and orientation. I used the word "disorder" in the title rather than "illness" because illness is a medical term that involves consideration of topics focusing more or less exclusively on medicine and biology rather than the social features of mentally disordered behavior. I don't use the phrase "mental health" because mental health can be positive or negative, and sociologists typically study the negative features of me
Although the conclusions expressed in this book are solely the responsibility of the author, other individuals provided extremely helpful comments. A note of appreciation is due to the following colleagues who contributed comments on the various editions of this book: John Collette, University of Utah; Gary A. Cretser, California Polytechnic University (Pomona); Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Robert Emerick, San Diego State University; Hugh Floyd, University of New
William C. Cockerham, University of Alabama at Birmingham