IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v291y2021ics0277953621008327.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Politicized disease surveillance: A theoretical lens for understanding sociopolitical influence on the monitoring of disease epidemics

Author

Listed:
  • Fisher, Michael P.

Abstract

Sociopolitical forces commonly influence the collection, analysis, dissemination, and general perceptions of epidemiological information. Yet few theoretical lenses provide insight into the mechanisms through which such influence occurs. In this article, I draw and expand upon empirical findings to propose a novel theoretical lens, politicized disease surveillance, which I define as extreme or undue sociopolitical influence on public health surveillance systems or processes in ways that impact disease incidences and prevalences, or estimates or perceptions thereof. This lens foregrounds disease incidence and prevalence as objects of contestation and policy influence and articulates how certain facets of sociopolitical forces shape disease incidences and prevalences—especially amid an epidemic—through one or more channels: (1) the diagnostic construct; (2) screening tools, procedures, or systems; or (3) the behaviors of individuals who are living with or at risk for a certain disease. I provide several contemporary illustrations of politicized disease surveillance and discuss its theoretical and practical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Fisher, Michael P., 2021. "Politicized disease surveillance: A theoretical lens for understanding sociopolitical influence on the monitoring of disease epidemics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:291:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621008327
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114500
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621008327
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114500?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Linda J. Bilmes, 2014. "The Financial Legacy of Afghanistan and Iraq: How Wartime Spending Decisions Will Constrain Future U.S. National Security Budgets," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 5-18, April.
    2. Dumit, Joseph, 2006. "Illnesses you have to fight to get: Facts as forces in uncertain, emergent illnesses," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 577-590, February.
    3. Brown, Phil & Lyson, Mercedes & Jenkins, Tania, 2011. "From diagnosis to social diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 939-943, September.
    4. Jutel, Annemarie & Nettleton, Sarah, 2011. "Towards a sociology of diagnosis: Reflections and opportunities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 793-800, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Locock, Louise & Nettleton, Sarah & Kirkpatrick, Susan & Ryan, Sara & Ziebland, Sue, 2016. "‘I knew before I was told’: Breaches, cues and clues in the diagnostic assemblage," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 85-92.
    2. Rasmussen, Pernille Skovbo & Pedersen, Inge Kryger & Pagsberg, Anne Katrine, 2020. "Biographical disruption or cohesion?: How parents deal with their child's autism diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    3. Leiter, Valerie, 2024. "Signs and symptoms: Adverse events associated with a sterilization device," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    4. Russell, Ginny & Kelly, Susan E. & Ford, Tamsin & Steer, Colin, 2012. "Diagnosis as a social determinant: The development of prosocial behaviour before and after an autism spectrum diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(9), pages 1642-1649.
    5. Hayes, Jennie & McCabe, Rose & Ford, Tamsin & Parker, Daisy & Russell, Ginny, 2021. "‘Not at the diagnosis point’: Dealing with contradiction in autism assessment teams," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    6. Jutel, Annemarie, 2016. "Truth and lies: Disclosure and the power of diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 92-98.
    7. Armstrong, Natalie & Hilton, Paul, 2014. "Doing diagnosis: Whether and how clinicians use a diagnostic tool of uncertain clinical utility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 208-214.
    8. Ross, Emily & Swallow, Julia & Kerr, Anne & Chekar, Choon Key & Cunningham-Burley, Sarah, 2021. "Diagnostic layering: Patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    9. Brown, Eliza, 2020. "Projected diagnosis, anticipatory medicine, and uncertainty: How medical providers ‘rule out’ potential pregnancy in contraceptive counseling," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    10. Jovanovic, Maja, 2014. "Creating the ‘dis-ease’ of high cholesterol: A sociology of diagnosis reception analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 120-128.
    11. Trundle, Catherine, 2011. "Biopolitical endpoints: Diagnosing a deserving British nuclear test veteran," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 882-888, September.
    12. Nettleton, Sarah & Kitzinger, Jenny & Kitzinger, Celia, 2014. "A diagnostic illusory? The case of distinguishing between “vegetative” and “minimally conscious” states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 134-141.
    13. Phillips, Tarryn, 2012. "Repressive authenticity in the quest for legitimacy: Surveillance and the contested illness lawsuit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1762-1768.
    14. Schaepe, Karen Sue, 2011. "Bad news and first impressions: Patient and family caregiver accounts of learning the cancer diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 912-921, September.
    15. Vololona Rabeharisoa & Michel Callon & Angela Marques Filipe & João Arriscado Nunes & Florence Paterson & Frédéric Vergnaud, 2012. "The dynamics of causes and conditions: the rareness of diseases in French and Portuguese patients' organizations' engagement in research," CSI Working Papers Series 026, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    16. Madeleine Akrich, 2010. "From Communities of Practice to Epistemic Communities: Health Mobilizations on the Internet," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 15(2), pages 116-132, May.
    17. Brian Walitt & Richard L Nahin & Robert S Katz & Martin J Bergman & Frederick Wolfe, 2015. "The Prevalence and Characteristics of Fibromyalgia in the 2012 National Health Interview Survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Claire Edwards & Etaoine Howlett & Madeleine Akrich & Vololona Rabeharisoa, 2012. "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in France and Ireland: parents' groups' scientific and political framing of an unsettled condition," CSI Working Papers Series 024, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    19. O'Connor, Cliodhna & Downs, Johnny & McNicholas, Fiona & Cross, Lauren & Shetty, Hitesh, 2020. "Documenting diagnosis in child and adolescent mental healthcare: A content analysis of diagnostic statements in a psychiatric case register," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    20. Cohn, Simon & Dyson, Clare & Wessely, S., 2008. "Early accounts of Gulf War illness and the construction of narratives in UK service personnel," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 1641-1649, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:291:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621008327. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.