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Embodiment and the foundation of biographical disruption

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  • Engman, Athena

Abstract

The concept of biographical disruption has now enjoyed nearly 40 years of use in medical sociology. This paper argues that taking an embodied approach to biographical disruption helps to explain the concept's enduring efficacy. Drawing on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and contemporary theories of embodiment inspired by his phenomenology, this paper advances that biographical disruption involves, in the first instance, a disruption to the ability to enact an embodied orientation towards the world. Biographical disruption does not, from this perspective, result from illness as such, but from the ways that illness impinges on one's physical ability to engage with daily life.

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  • Engman, Athena, 2019. "Embodiment and the foundation of biographical disruption," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 120-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:225:y:2019:i:c:p:120-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Barry, L.E. & O'Neill, S. & Heaney, L.G. & O'Neill, C., 2021. "Stress-related health depreciation: Using allostatic load to predict self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    3. Campbell, Chadwick K., 2021. "Structural and intersectional biographical disruption: The case of HIV disclosure among a sample of black gay and bisexual men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).

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