The second edition of this widely used text has been carefully rewritten to ensure that it is up-to-date with cutting-edge debates, evidence, and policy changes. Since the book's initial publication, there has been an expansion of interest in disability in the social sciences, and disability has come to play an increasingly prominent role in political debates. The new edition takes account of all these developments, and also gives greater emphasis to global issues in order to reflect the increasing and intensifying interdependence of nation states in the twenty-first century. The authors examine, amongst other issues,the changing nature of the concept of disability, key debates in the sociology of health and illness, the politicisation of disability, social policy, and the cultural and media representation of disability. As well as providing an excellent overview of the literature in the area, the book develops an understanding of disability that has implications for both sociology and society.
The second edition of Exploring Disability will be indispensable for students across the social sciences, and in health and social care, who really want to understand the issues facing disabled people and disabling societies.
Acknowledgements
Preface to the Second Edition
Chapter 1. Introduction: Analysing Disability
Grass roots mobilisation
Sociological perspectives
A brief word on terminology
Overview of the book
Chapter 2. Competing Models and Approaches
Socio-historical perspectives
The individual or medical model of disability
Looking beyond individual solutions
The social model of disability
The biopsychosocial model of disability
Review
Chapter 3. Sociological Approaches to Chronic Illness and Disability
Functionalism, Parsons and the sick role
Labelling perspectives and stigmatisation
Negotiated and interpretive accounts
Medical and professional dominance
Towards a political economy of medicine and sickness
Embodiment and post structuralism
Review
Chapter 4. Theories of Disability
Welfarism and its discontents
Theories of disability and oppression
Disability and social divisions
Postmodernism: back to the future?
Review
Chapter 5. Social Exclusion and Disabling Barriers
Disability policy and the welfare state
Education
Financial circumstances
Employment
Built environment, housing and transport
Leisure and social participation
Review
Chapter 6. Routes to Independent Living
The critique of residential institutions
Policy direction towards independence
Care or independence?
User led organisations centres for independent living
Direct payments
Service user involvement
Review
Chapter 7. Politics and Disability Politics
Politics and disabled people
Civil rights and legislation
A new social movement?
Identity politics
Review
Chapter 8. Culture, the Media and Identity
Sociological approaches to culture
Cultural representations of disability
Cultural studies approaches
Towards a disability culture
Review
Chapter 9. Disability and the Right to Life
Ethics, culture and rights
Disability and Eugenics
Disability and biotechnology
Life and death decisions
Review
Chapter 10. Disability and Development: Global Perspectives
Disability, industrialisation and globalization
Comparative perspectives on impairment
Poverty, disability and social exclusion
Internationalization of disability policy
Disability activism: mobilizing for change
Review
Bibliography
