Is the Functional ‘Normal’? Aging, Sexuality and the Bio-marking of Successful Living
| Autor: | Stephen Katz, Barbara L. Marshall |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2004 |
| Předmět: |
050103 clinical psychology
History Activities of daily living Successful aging Sexology media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Gender studies Human sexuality Dysfunctional family Developmental psychology History and Philosophy of Science 050903 gender studies 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 0509 other social sciences Psychology Competence (human resources) Normality Biopower media_common |
| Zdroj: | History of the Human Sciences. 17:53-75 |
| ISSN: | 1461-720X 0952-6951 |
| Popis: | This article raises the question of ‘normality’ today and the fracturing of health ideals along new lines of enablement and function. In particular the study asks if ‘functional’ and ‘dysfunctional’ are displacing ‘normal’ and ‘pathological’ as master biopolitical binarisms, and if so, what distinctions can be drawn between them. The discourse of ‘function’ and ‘dysfunction’ is certainly ubiquitous in two areas of research and practice: gerontology and sexology. In the former case ‘functional health’ is linked to successful aging represented by technical tests around activities of daily living (ADLs) and risk-assessment profiles. In the latter case, sexual function and dysfunction have become all-encompassing markers of heterosexual competence, now largely detached from reproductive imperatives, but refashioned as integral to responsible and successful self-management. Presenting examples from both cases, the article concludes that functionality, circulating under the signs of ‘normal’, ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’, furnishes economic, technological, educational, professional, pharmacological and policy fields with a rich intellectual, practical and regulatory resource. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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