The Sociology of Mental Disorders

This thoroughly revised edition of The Sociology of Mental Disorders presents a biosocial model for understanding mental disorders, which integrates the sociological paradigm with current research in the epidemiology of mental disorders and on biological features of mental disorders. It shows the many ways in which macrosocial factors―such as stratification, integration, and culture―and microsocial factors―such as self-concept formation, socialization, and imitation―influence the distribution of mental disorders throughout the population, in combination with psychological and biological factors. The author adopts an epistemological point of view, comparing and contrasting various frameworks for comprehending bizarre forms of deviance that are labeled as mental disorders, including a definition of mental disorder that is purely sociological. He introduces new data and frameworks concerning the process of social stratification and mental disorders, the diffusion of somatoform disorders, mental disorders in the modern world, and the insane society.

Original data from classic research studies in the field are introduced and discussed to illustrate the application of sociological frameworks to the problem of bizarre deviance. Carefully selected first-person accounts of the experience of bizarre deviance add poignancy to the presentation, along with examples of official diagnostic criteria.