An analytic typology of disclaimers, excuses and justifications surrounding illness: A situational approach to health and illness

Angelo A. Alonzo

Social Science & Medicine, 1985, vol. 21, issue 2, 153-162

Abstract: An analytic typology of disclaimers, excuses and justifications is developed to demonstrate how illness is possible within our everyday social situations. Beginning with the concepts of the 'disclaimer' from Hewitt and Stokes, and the 'exuce' and 'justification' from Scott and Lyman, these concepts are extended and reconceptualized to apply to circumstances where signs and symptoms of illness compromise and disrupt role performance and situational participation. Using a situational perspective on health and illness, the presentation of a disclaimer, excuse or justification is seen as a means of allowing the symptomatic individual to 'drift' in and out of illness while protecting his and others' social identity, the integrity of the social situation and the individual's health status.

Date: 1985
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(85)90084-X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:21:y:1985:i:2:p:153-162

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().