Suchergebnisse

This article addresses the question of what it is that visual depictions of illness portray, particularly images executed by or on behalf of people who have suffered serious illness. It takes up two lines of inquiry, both to do with the work that such pictures might perform. On the one hand, as works of art, there are questions about the form of signification in visual representations of this kind. On the other, as works of illness, there are issues concerning the role of image-making for sufferers bearing witness to their situation. The article examines the issue of what it is to look at pictures of bodies scarred by treatment for serious disease, and follows this into questions about what it is possible and necessary to show in order to render illness experience tangible. By examining, as exemplars, two particular images of sufferers, it is argued that such portrayals work not just through making visible certain objects for scrutiny, but by figuratively instantiating persons so as to produce a `vision of the non-visual'. In this way picturing illness finds its place in what might be called a politics of care.

Charitable giving is a topic that has received little attention in the literature to date, in spite of the recent growth of the voluntary sector in the U.K This paper uses data from interviews with 49 people about their preferences for ways of giving, for kinds of causes, and their beliefs about the role of charity in society. Two main themes are selected for analysis: (a) the kinds of experience that people have had of others in need, and (b) the organization of giving, formally or informally, within social institutions. These themes are used to construct a conceptual framework showing that charitable giving reflects variations in the relationship of individuals to the community of which they are a part. This is a critical alternative to explanations of charity based upon either individual motive, social norms, or the setting in which the solicitation of gifts occurs.

This introduction to the Tenth Anniversary Issue surveys articles that have been published in health: since its launch. Reviewing the original aims of the journal, the editors discuss some of the main issues that authors have raised, both about health and illness. Focusing upon articles that have been published in this particular journal, we discuss the way that new medical technologies - particularly global ones - have shaped ideas about disease and its treatment, and in consequence about what 'good health' should be. Related to the growth in medical and other technology - not least the rise of the Internet during the life of this journal - is the number of articles that discuss the rights of patients and the establishment of what might be termed an 'illness culture'. We conclude that there continues to be more to health than it being the background to illness or disease, and ask the question: should the 'taken for grantedness' of health be taken for granted any longer?

Media images pervading everyday life often reproduce inequitable social relations that adversely affect the lives of vulnerable people. This article explores the influence of media representations of homelessness as a source of characterizations that are used by homeless people when representing themselves. To do this, it draws on life narrative interviews, photographic exercises and phogo-based discussions with 12 single rough sleepers from London. It documents how participants both reproduce common media storylines foregrounding their differences from housed people and emphasizes aspects of their lives that do not feature in media portrayals, but which invoke their `normality'.

Media link events in society into meaningful plotlines for public consumption. For social issues such as homelessness this storytelling process continues until an issue is resolved or another concern takes precedence. This article investigates British Independent Television News1 (ITN) portrayals of homelessness from January 1993 to December 2002 (n= 99). News items are explored as instalments in a larger news narrative through which the public is offered engagements with homeless characters. A quantitative content analysis was used to establish the general prevalence of items throughout the year, story locations, causes and solutions offered for homelessness, and character roles. A qualitative narrative analysis was used to explore the function of these story elements in the overall patterning of the ITN story of homelessness. Of particular note was the promotion of a philanthropic approach to service delivery through the characterization of homeless people as needy victims and the maintenance of estranged relationships between the viewing public and homeless people. The significance of ITN's exclusion of homeless people from public deliberations regarding their needs is discussed in relation to the failure of this wealthy nation to resolve homelessness.

Media link events in society into meaningful plotlines for public consumption. For social issues such as homelessness this storytelling process continues until an issue is resolved or another concern takes precedence. This article investigates British Independent Television News (ITN) portrayals of homelessness from January 1993 to December 2002 (n = 99). News items are explored as installments in a larger news narrative through which the public is offered engagements with homeless characters. A quantitative content analysis was used to establish the general prevalence of items throughout the year, story locations, causes & solutions offered for homelessness, & character roles. A qualitative narrative analysis was used to explore the function of these story elements in the overall patterning of the ITN story of homelessness. Of particular note was the promotion of a philanthropic approach to service delivery through the characterization of homeless people as needy victims & the maintenance of estranged relationships between the viewing public & homeless people. The significance of ITN's exclusion of homeless people from public deliberations regarding their needs is discussed in relation to the failure of this wealthy nation to resolve homelessness. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.