In Comparison, I'm Really Lucky: How Breast Cancer Patients Utilize Symbolic Boundaries as a Coping Mechanism

• In Event: 365 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Symbolic Boundaries Research Network

Abstract

With the rise of the Pink Ribbon movement the perception is that breast cancer patients feel inclined to come together and bond over a shared experience. However, in an interview-based study, I find that breast cancer patients often utilize symbolic boundaries between themselves and other cancer patients as a coping mechanism for dealing with their own illness and grief. I find that breast cancer patients construct three different forms of boundaries in order to make sense of their own experience. (1) These women often compared their experience to others people’s in order to remind themselves that it could have been worse and that they were lucky. (2) They avoided support groups as they believed that surrounding themselves with other patients would make them feel worse and therefore distanced themselves from women with similar experiences. (3) They focused on the possibility of a harsher diagnosis or more difficult experience with treatment in comparison to an undefined ‘other’. Contrary to popular, these breast cancer patients rationalized their own experiences by focusing on the differences between their experience and the experience of others.

Author

• Laura E. Rogers, University of California-San Diego