Putting a Name to It: Diagnosis in Contemporary Society Paperback - 2014

Finalist, Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize, British Sociological Association

Diagnosis is central to medicine. It creates social order, explains illness, identifies treatments, and predicts outcomes. Using concepts of medical sociology, Annemarie Goldstein Jutel sheds light on current knowledge about the components of diagnosis to outline how a sociology of diagnosis would function. She situates it within the broader discipline, lays out the directions it should explore, and discusses how the classification of illness and framing of diagnosis relate to social status and order. Jutel explains why this matters not just to doctor-patient relationships but also to the entire medical system.

With this engaging and fascinating text, [Jutel] has presented a challenge which medical sociology can, and should, take on board.--Sociology of Health and Illness

Jutel joins new research with classical themes and weaves them all in a colorful and detailed tapestry, thus forming a seducing conceptual and theoretical ground for further work.--Social Forces

This book's greatest achievement is its engaging style and clear location of scholarly analysis in a clinical context. Jutel never lets the reader forget why diagnosis matters, and she is skilled at making the invisible visible as she explores the myriad ways in which the mysterious process of classifying and naming illness informs the provision of healthcare.--Times Higher Education

Well written and a surprisingly pleasurable read. It gives the physician a glimpse at how this fundamental element to medicine--making a diagnosis--appears to those most affected by it--the patients. The book also reveals the ways society shapes our understanding of wellness and disease.--Nature Medicine

The issues explored in Putting a Name to It, and the questions it raises, are of tremendous importance today, especially for those seeking diagnosis as a means for resources, or rejecting diagnosis' judgments of normativity. --Disability Studies Quarterly