Chronic illness and the ideology of the individual: towards a critique of the concept of agency

Journal title SALUTE E SOCIETÀ
Author/s Nicoletta Diasio
Publishing Year 2019 Issue 2019/3 Language English
Pages 14 P. 35-48 File size 229 KB
DOI 10.3280/SES2019-003004
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The author analyses how the concept of agency may enhance some forms of social normativity and encourage a type of individual among children and adults. The article questions these characteristics, examines how far they are socially prescribed, and shows how they constitute a touchstone of the passage into adulthood. By the preliminary findings of a research on age transition of adolescents suffering Type 1 diabetes in France, the author questions the social ideal of managing and optimizing one’s capacities, projecting oneself over time, being flexible and breaking the ties of dependence, and underlines how these social exhortations can bring new forms of determinism and disempowerment.

Keywords: Body; Age transition; Youth; Diabetes; Empowerment-Disempowerment; Subject.

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  • Les sœurs et frères de jeunes malades chroniques : supports rapprochés, supports par effacement et rivalités Virginie Vinel, in Agora débats/jeunesses /2023 pp.37
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    DOI: 10.4000/revss.8205
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  • Illegitimate bodies? Turner syndrome and the silent interplay of age, gender, and generational positions Nicoletta Diasio, in Frontiers in Sociology 1084707/2023
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Nicoletta Diasio, Chronic illness and the ideology of the individual: towards a critique of the concept of agency in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 3/2019, pp 35-48, DOI: 10.3280/SES2019-003004