Psychiatric diagnosis and racial bias: Empirical and interpretative approaches

Roland Littlewood

Social Science & Medicine, 1992, vol. 34, issue 2, 141-149

Abstract: Understanding of psychiatric illness among Britain's Black and ethnic minority population has shifted from an emphasis on cultural difference to one on racism within psychiatric theory and practice. In spite of this apparent turn, the explanations put forward remain within an empirical framework of methodological individualism, reflecting the background and training of British psychiatrists themselves. How racism may be actually demonstrated in individual clinical practice remains elusive. The standard hypotheses are examined here through a conventional clinical vignette study: this suggests medical education does not in itself now involve any specific racist psychiatric assumptions. Fuller understanding of the exercise of social power within this particular domain requires not only more complex interactive studies, preferably derived from a variety of clinical and social contexts, but a more developed interpretation of psychiatric practice and ideology within the social system.

Keywords: diagnosis; racism; psychiatry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(92)90091-4
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:34:y:1992:i:2:p:141-149

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 ().