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The boundaries of the self and the unhealthy other: Reflections on health, culture and AIDS

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  • Crawford, Robert

Abstract

Most accounts of the cultural stigmas associated with AIDS have not adequately considered the meanings through which the stigmatizing self imagines his/her difference from the stigmatized other. This paper argues that 'health' is a key concept in the fashioning of identity for the modern and contemporary middle class and that the 'unhealthy' come to be represented as the other of this self. 'Healthy' and 'unhealthy,' however, must be understood both in their biomedical meanings and in their implicit metaphorical meanings. The 'unhealthy,' 'contagious,' 'sexually deviant,' and 'addicted-minority' other--all condensed in the negative symbolism of AIDS--have become images which are mobilized as part of a cultural politics of reconstructing the self in conformity with intensified mandates for self-control. The expulsion of 'unhealthy' meanings from the self, an act of patrolling the borders of identity, finds its projected physical location in the figure of the person with HIV-AIDS.

Suggested Citation

  • Crawford, Robert, 1994. "The boundaries of the self and the unhealthy other: Reflections on health, culture and AIDS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1347-1365, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:38:y:1994:i:10:p:1347-1365
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    Cited by:

    1. Eichelberger, Laura, 2007. "SARS and New York's Chinatown: The politics of risk and blame during an epidemic of fear," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(6), pages 1284-1295, September.
    2. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta, 2018. "Running as a Form of Therapy Socio-Psychological Functions of Mass Running Events for Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Joanna Poczta & Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, 2018. "Modern Running Events in Sustainable Development—More than Just Taking Care of Health and Physical Condition (Poznan Half Marathon Case Study)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Hannah Farrimond, 2023. "Stigma Mutation: Tracking Lineage, Variation and Strength in Emerging COVID-19 Stigma," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 28(1), pages 171-188, March.
    5. Billings, Katie R. & Cort, David A. & Rozario, Tannuja D. & Siegel, Derek P., 2021. "HIV stigma beliefs in context: Country and regional variation in the effects of instrumental stigma beliefs on protective sexual behaviors in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Campbell, Catherine & Skovdal, Morten & Mupambireyi, Zivai & Gregson, Simon, 2010. "Exploring children's stigmatisation of AIDS-affected children in Zimbabwe through drawings and stories," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 975-985, September.
    7. Malchrowicz-Mośko Ewa & Poczta Joanna, 2019. "Motivations for Running in Men: A Comparative Analysis of Local Runners and Sports Tourists," Turyzm / Tourism, Sciendo, vol. 29(2), pages 69-79, December.
    8. Simon Williams, 2001. "From Smart Bombs to Smart Bugs: Thinking the Unthinkable in Medical Sociology and Beyond," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 6(3), pages 83-88, November.
    9. Wight, Richard G. & Aneshensel, Carol S. & Murphy, Debra A. & Miller-Martinez, Dana & Beals, Kristin P., 2006. "Perceived HIV stigma in AIDS caregiving dyads," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 444-456, January.
    10. Persson, Asha & Newman, Christy, 2006. "Potency and vulnerability: Troubled 'selves' in the context of antiretroviral therapy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1586-1596, September.
    11. Childerhose, Janet E. & MacDonald, Margaret E., 2013. "Health consumption as work: The home pregnancy test as a domesticated health tool," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1-8.
    12. Heikkinen, Hanne & Patja, Kristiina & Jallinoja, Piia, 2010. "Smokers' accounts on the health risks of smoking: Why is smoking not dangerous for me?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(5), pages 877-883, September.
    13. Peretti-Watel, Patrick & Moatti, Jean-Paul, 2006. "Understanding risk behaviours: How the sociology of deviance may contribute? The case of drug-taking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 675-679, August.
    14. Izquierdo, Carolina, 2005. "When "health" is not enough: societal, individual and biomedical assessments of well-being among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 767-783, August.
    15. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta & Katarzyna Adamczewska, 2019. "The Potential of Non-Mega Sporting Events for the Promotion of Physical Activity Among Inactive Supporters at the Poznan Half Marathon: A Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-12, October.
    16. McMullin, Juliet, 2005. "The call to life: revitalizing a healthy Hawaiian identity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 809-820, August.
    17. Cort, David A. & Tu, Hsin Fei, 2018. "Safety in stigmatizing? Instrumental stigma beliefs and protective sexual behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 144-152.
    18. Freeman, Emily, 2016. "Understanding HIV-related stigma in older age in rural Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 35-43.
    19. Petersen, Alan, 2006. "The best experts: The narratives of those who have a genetic condition," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 32-42, July.
    20. 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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    Keywords

    AIDS culture self;

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