Feeling Meaning: Pain as Embodied Metaphor

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 1. (De)Medicalization Processes

Abstract

Pain is one of the few universals of the human experience and has become highly prevalent in modern medicine and healthcare. Despite the growing prevalence of pain among scholars of a range of disciplines, however, the topic remains understudied by sociologists. Pain is not just a biological or physical phenomenon; it involves social, cultural, and cognitive elements. Research from different disciplines have noted the importance of these range of factors involved in experiences of pain, however these literatures, particularly studies related to the cognitive and cultural facets of pain, largely remain disconnected from one another. Accordingly, this essay argues that cultural and cognitive studies of pain may be productively connected by conceptualizing pain experiences as a form of embodied cognition, particularly a form of embodied metaphor. In turn, this conceptualization offers a means for gaining greater insight into the meaning-making processes and cultural variation of pain experiences by overcoming the limitations of existing research, such as a focus on individual psychological factors and tendencies to conflate ethnicity and culture. Further, it involves clinical implications that can improve culturally sensitive treatments and contribute to reducing existing disparities in the treatment of pain by healthcare professionals.

Author

• Cesar Ramirez, University of Toronto