The social construction of disabilities
Proposed to be offered next in 1998
Don Miller
12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Clayton
Objectives The aim of this course is to give students an understanding of the cultural relativities of the concept of `the disabled' as a category of humanity. The objectives of the subject are to gain an historical knowledge of concepts of normality and pathology as they apply to human physical and mental conditions; understand the historical development of these concepts of normality and pathology in relation to the emergence of concepts of sanity and insanity in the West; examine the concepts of normality and pathology as they are applied to deafness and the deaf community.
Synopsis The subject examines the discursive construction of `the disabled' in our society. After a brief survey of the perception and treatment of `disabilities' crossculturally and throughout Western history, the subject concentrates on the link between, on the one hand, the ideological construction of the `normal' and the `pathological' in current Western conceptions of humanity, and on the other, the demands of capitalist production for an `able-bodied' workforce. Two case studies will be examined in detail: the social construction and treatment of the `insane' and the `deaf'.
Assessment Two exercises (2000 words each): 20% each
* Essay (5000
words): 60%
Recommended texts
Crossley R and McDonald A Annie's coming out Penguin, 1980
Foucault M Madness and civilization Vintage, 1973
Foucault M The birth of the clinic Vintage, 1975
Gould S J The mismeasure of man Penguin, 1984
Lewis M Managing madness: Psychiatry and society in Australia 1788-1980 AGPS, 1988
Porter R Mind-forg'd manacles Penguin, 1992
Porter R (ed.) The Faber book of madness Faber and Faber, 1993
Sacks O Seeing voices: A journey into the world of the deaf Picador, 1989
Showalter E The female malady: Women, madness and English culture, 1830-1980 Virago, 1987
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