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The imitation of madness: The influence of psychopathology upon culture

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  • Littlewood, Roland

Abstract

Psychiatry and ethnography have been reluctant to consider the possibility that psychosis may provide a model for social organisation and belief. The situations in which this may occur are considered and two examples discussed: the historical leader of a Jewish messianic movement and the contemporary founder of a Trinidadian sect. Individual delusions may be converted into a shared public culture by the manipulation of previously accepted symbolism and a simple inversion of the traditional values in some area may enable the whole community to attain a more sophisticated conceptualisation. In particular, autinomian acts rooted in psychopathology may generate more universal dispensations out of systems of dual classification.

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  • Littlewood, Roland, 1984. "The imitation of madness: The influence of psychopathology upon culture," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 705-715, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:19:y:1984:i:7:p:705-715
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