Disability & Society · 2004 · 685 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesSociologyDisabilityMedical SociologyPhysical DisabilitiesDefinition Of DisabilityDisability Studies TheoryMedical Aspects Of DisabilityMedical Model Of DisabilityPsychosocial Aspects Of DisabilitySocial Model Of DisabilityCommon Ground BuildingDisability DistinctionsPsycho-social Model Of DisabilitySocial UnderstandingSociological Model
The paper examines sociological conceptions of disability, noting that disability studies and medical sociology often present starkly contrasting approaches that create a disciplinary divide. The study argues that closer inspection reveals common ground between certain disability studies and medical sociology writers. The authors compare current meanings of disability in disability studies and medical sociology by analyzing selected articles from leading authors in each discipline. The paper finds that the social relational understanding of disability, pioneered by Finkelstein and Hunt, has been eclipsed by the social model, and calls for its revival.
This paper considers sociological understandings of what constitutes disability. Current meanings of disability in both disability studies and medical sociology are examined and compared, using selected articles from leading authors in each discipline as case studies. These disciplines are often represented as offering starkly contrasting approaches to disability, with their differences amounting to a disciplinary 'divide'. It is argued that, on closer inspection, common ground can be found between some writers in disability studies and medical sociology. It is suggested that this situation has arisen because, in disability studies, the social relational understanding of disability developed by Vic Finkelstein and Paul Hunt in the 1970s has been lost over time, overshadowed by the rise to prominence of its offspring: the social model of disability. The paper concludes with some reflections on the need to revive a social relational understanding of disability.