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Embodiment and the foundation of biographical disruption

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  • Engman, Athena

Abstract

The concept of biographical disruption has now enjoyed nearly 40 years of use in medical sociology. This paper argues that taking an embodied approach to biographical disruption helps to explain the concept's enduring efficacy. Drawing on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and contemporary theories of embodiment inspired by his phenomenology, this paper advances that biographical disruption involves, in the first instance, a disruption to the ability to enact an embodied orientation towards the world. Biographical disruption does not, from this perspective, result from illness as such, but from the ways that illness impinges on one's physical ability to engage with daily life.

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  • Engman, Athena, 2019. "Embodiment and the foundation of biographical disruption," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 120-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:225:y:2019:i:c:p:120-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Lowton, Karen & Hiley, Chris & Higgs, Paul, 2017. "Constructing embodied identity in a ‘new’ ageing population: A qualitative study of the pioneer cohort of childhood liver transplant recipients in the UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1-9.
    10. Bell, Sarah L. & Tyrrell, Jessica & Phoenix, Cassandra, 2016. "Ménière's disease and biographical disruption: Where family transitions collide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 177-185.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anita Ghai & Suchaita Tenneti, 2024. "An Autoethnographic Reflection of COVID-19 and/as Biographical Disruption," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 43-60, February.
    2. Nelsensius Klau Fauk & Lillian Mwanri & Hailay Abrha Gesesew & Paul Russell Ward, 2023. "Biographical Reinvention: An Asset-Based Approach to Understanding the World of Men Living with HIV in Indonesia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(16), pages 1-16, August.
    3. Barry, L.E. & O'Neill, S. & Heaney, L.G. & O'Neill, C., 2021. "Stress-related health depreciation: Using allostatic load to predict self-rated health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    4. Emmanuel F. Koku, 2024. "The Effect of Stigma and Social Networks on Role Expectations among African Immigrants Living with HIV," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-16, June.
    5. Campbell, Chadwick K., 2021. "Structural and intersectional biographical disruption: The case of HIV disclosure among a sample of black gay and bisexual men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).

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