Difficult Times and Changes in the Habitus

• In Event: 082 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 24. Medical/Health II

Abstract

How do patients learn how to be patients? The Bourdieusian tradition examines the way in which the acquisition of culture motivates a given individual’s sense of group belonging through building of the habitus. But there is less empirical examination of micro- and meso-processes through which this occurs, particularly when individuals experience strain. In this paper we explore situations in which patients with end-stage cancer develop trust in medicine, when that trust is broken, and whether these experiences cause changes in patients’ skills and habits, or re-orient patients’ understanding of medicine more generally.

Authors

• Susan Miller, University of California-San Francisco

• Daniel Dohan, University of California-San Francisco