Showing papers by "Anselm L. Strauss published in 1966"

Awareness of Dying

Abstract: Should patients be told they are dying? How do families react when one of their members is facing death? Who should reveal that death is imminent? How does hospital staff--doctors, nurses, and attendants--act toward the dying patient and his family? Death, as a social ritual, is one of the great turning points in human existence, but prior to this classic work, it had been subjected to little scientific study. American perspectives on death seem strangely paradoxical--the brutal fact of death is confronted daily in our newspapers yet Americans are unwilling to talk openly about the process of dying itself. Awareness of Dying, using a highly original theory of awareness, examines the dying patient and those about him in social interaction, it gives us a language and tools of analysis for understanding who knows what about dying, under what circumstances, and what difference it makes. The authors use their finely detailed observations to develop theoretical constructs that will be of use in many other interactions and situations. Awareness of Dying was the first study of dying in hospitals, and has proven a useful handbook for chaplains, social workers, nurses, and doctors in confronting the many ethical and personal problems that arise in the dying situation. Now available in paperback, it is destined to reach new audiences interested in this key part of all life.

A Sociology of Psychiatry: A Perspective and Some Organizing Foci

Abstract: This paper is concerned with a conceptual structure that would give sociological shape to the field of psychiatry. Its more ambitious purposes are to suggest several sociological models as organizing principles for viewing that field and other professional practice fields like it; also, to suggest a number of research problems of value to sociology. Behind these purposes is a concern for some questionable benefits accruing to sociology from its association with, and application to, professional practice and service fields. Social scientists generally may well feel flattered by the demand for their skills and products. Yet much work being done constitutes a service to these practice fields, answering to practical problems suggested by practitioners rather than to problems of fundamental importance to social science itself. In psychiatry, much of what goes by the name of sociological research contributes little toward developing theory essential to an exclusive sociological position-a position which carries no notable concern for the legitimacy, efficacy, efficiency, or morality of psychiatric practice. For several decades now, sociologists have dealt with problems of mental illness, psychiatric practice, and psychiatric institutions.1 Many, and perhaps most of them, have come to accept both the legitimacy of psychiatric practice and its supporting assumptions, though not necessarily its underlying theories. They tend to accept the "facts" of mental illness, and concern themselves with applying their expertise to "problems" of etiology, ecology, treatment, administrative structures and processes; hence the many studies on social factors productive of "disturbance," the prevalence and incidence of "mental illness" among varied populations, professional and patient roles, ward organization, and the consequences of these for patient health and control. Many of these sociologists want to help psychiatrists understand how social events