Sociology news is published by the Medical Sociology Group‚ a study group cf the Eritish Sociological Association Subscription rates for 1987-88

seemed

to work.

One

of

the

models

OH

1äY

management of

illness

is

not

fully developed.

Already existing

models are

acknowledged and

suggestions for

adapting

these

given.

As

there

are

a

number of these

models

this

was

a

little

unsatisfactory.

Many

of

the

statements

made

concerninq

lay beliefs gloss

over the

fact

that

Calnan's

work

deals

only with

female respondents.

I

hasten to

add

that this

is

raised

as a

point

of

methodology

and

not sexism.

There is perhaps a

need

to

suggest

that

althouqh

women

are

mainly responsible for health

in

society‚

the models

and evidence omit a comparison with tho views of male

respondents

which

could

be

different.

59

Althouqh

the size

of

the

two

social

class groups are satisfactory

to raise

some

point5‚ it

does

lead

to

some

anomalies in

expression.

At

one point 9 out of 20 respondents

( i . e . 4 5 % )

is

described

a5

'a minority' while 12

out of

30

( i . e .

4 0 % )

is

described

as

'a

larqe

group

of women'!

Neverthe1ess‚

this

book will be

a valuable

source of

information

for

a

wide range of

readers.

The

usefulness

of

a

book to

me

can

be

gauged

by

the

amount of

underlininq and notes scribbled in

margins and borders.

My

copy of

this

book

has

very

few

pristinc

pages.

Colin Rees

South Glamorgan

School

of

Nursing

R.A.

Parker

The elderly

and

residential

care:Australian

lessons

for

Britain

Gower‚

1987. 128

pages

( h b k )

€19.50

In

Britain

the study

of

later life and of

the services designed

to cater

for

older

people

have

tended to

focus upon our own

country.

This

reflects

the

fairly recent

developments

of

social

gercntology as an

area of

academic endeavour in Britain

with

the consequent need to

research

our

own

circumstances

before considering

later

Life

within

other cultural settinqs.

This restricted

focus

of

much of

our

knowledge

about

provision

for

later

life

leads many to

assume

that this

is

the

way

that

later

life is catered

for

elsewhere.

This assumption

is

challenged

by much of

the comparative

research

now being

produced

by

gerontologists and other social scientists.

Parker's

short book

is

a

useful

addition to

this growing

area

of

interest.

He

notes

that Australia has

one of

the hiqhest

rates

of older people in residential

care

in

the

world.

In

Britain approximately

6%

of

the

over

75s

are

resident in

some

form

of

institutional

care:

in

Australia

the proportion is

14%-

Parker

then demonstrates

the high profile of residential

settinqs in the

care

cf

older

Australians

is

accounted for

by

a

massive expansion of private nursinq homes in

response

to

subsidies

to

private and

voluntary institutions over the past

two

decades.

Parker

documents

the qrowth of private nursinq homes in

Australia

and identifies

several

factors

including the

relationship

between state

and

federal

qovornment and reliance

upon

non—government

agencies

for

welfare provision as being

responsible

for

the growth

of

this

sector.

The chapters

documenting the

way

that private

nursinq

homes

qrew

in response

to

several

ad-hoc and seeminqly minor

chanqos

in wultarv

provlsion laws makes fascinating

rcadinq.

60

In

the

last

two

chapters of

the book Parker compares

explicitly

the British and Australien

situations.

He

notes

how

a

seemingly

minor alteration to the supplementary

benefits scheme

in Britain‚ plus

a

virtual

halt

in

local

authority provision‚

combined with

demographic

factors

to stimulate a

massive

increase

in private

residential

care.

As in Australia

policies have

evolved

without

any coherent

planning and no

rigorous evaluation of

the

likely

outcomes.

In

both countries

larqe

sums of

public

money

are

now

expended in

the

private

sector.

This has‚ in

both

settings‚

lead

to

the increased

involvement of

national government in regulating

the

way

that

the private sector operates.

Parker

also

raises

numerous

other

questions about the operation

and development

of private

nursinq homes in both Britain

and Australia.

This is

a

stimulating

book

which

would

be

of

interest

to

students

of

social

geronto1ogy‚ residential care

and

social

policy.

Its

explicitly comparative approach to

a

specific

facet

of

social policy is

to

be

welcomed and

provides

an

indication of

the stimulating scholarship which can ensue

from

this type of study.

Christina

Victor

Department

of

Community

Medicine

St. Mary's Hospital

London

W2.

P.

Miller

and

N.

Rose

The Power

of

Psxchiatrx

Cambridge: Polity

Press‚ 1986,

pp.326+vii. (pbk)

€8.50

The

editors

cf

this

vo1ume‚

Peter

Hiller

and

Nikolas

Rose, adopt

an

approach to

the understanding

of

psychiatry

which is

indebted

to

European rather than

Anqlo-American scholarship in the

sociology

and history

of psychiatry

—

indebted

above

all to the

work

of Michel

Foucault

and

to

the

1esser—known work

of

Robert

Castel.

Their approach is

set out and developed

in their joint

introduction and

in

the

four

of

the nine

papers

which they

contribute

to the

co11ection‚

Miller's

'Critiques of psychiatry

and critical sociologies

of

madness'

and

his

'Psychotherapy

of

work and unemp1oyment'

and

Rose's

'Psychiatry:

the discipline of

mental

health‘

and ‘Lau, rights

and

psychiatry‘.

According

to Miller

and

Rose

the

Anglo-American tradition has

a

number

of major

deficiencies:

it

has focussed

far too heaviiy

on

the

asylum

as the site

of

psychiatric activity: parallel with

this

it

has

qiven too

much

emphasis

to the

activities

and

power

both

of

the

medical profession

and

of

the

state; it

has

mistakenly committed itself to

the search

for

causai

explanations;

and

it

has

viewed

power as

repressive

and

ignored

its productive

dimensions.

Instead what

is

needed

is

an

approach which

is

broader and

more

creative: which

looks

at

activities outside as well as within the asylum, which concerns

itself with the

deve1opment‚

creation

and

enhancement

of

SUbjeCtiVitY‚

which

looks at the role

played

by

disciplines like

psychology

as well as

medicine‚

and

which

gets

away

from

simple.

monolithic conceptions

of

the

stete

as

the basic

source

of

social

power.

61

The arguments

of

Hiller

and

Rose

are‚

of

course‚ contentious‚ not

least

because

the very

European

t r a d j t i o n

they

espouse has

influenced Anglo-American

writing

about psychiatry ovor the past

quarter century and has,

for

instance‚

ensured that conceptions

of

power

are

by

no

means

always restricted to

the

repressive.

Moreover‚

whilst lt

is

true

that there has been considerable

attention in

recent studies

of

psychiatry

to asylums and

to the

power

of

the stete

and the medical profession,

Miller

and

Rose

assert

rather than

defend

the claim that this emphasis has been

overstated.

They ignore‚

too

a

broad ranqe

of

work which

has

extended

far beyond the confines

of

the asylum.

Peminist

historians

h a v e ‚

for

example‚ paid especial attention to

the

psychiatric work

of

private physicians who

treated

women

at

home

or

in

their consulting

rooms.

Equally the

C a s e

of

jettisoninq

notions

of

causality needs more

arqument

and

defence

to convince

the sceptical reader than it

receives

here.

However

contentious

thouqh

the

arguments

of

Hiller and Rose may

be‚ theoretically

they

are important

and

stimulatinq.

The

portrayal

of Anglo-American writing on psychiatry may

be

over-simple,

if

viewed

as

a characterisation of

the corpus as a

whole

rather than

of

selected

works‚

and the

case

for

accepting

the assumptions on

which

their alternative approach

is

founded

may

not

be

presented

in

an

entirely convincing manner‚ yet

by

delineating this

theoretical

contrast they provide

us

with an

invaluable heuristic device

for

thinking about

and

analysinq writing on psychiatry and

for

selecting issues and

questions for

research

and study.

It

has to

be

seid,

none the

less‚

that

the

empirical analyses Miller and Rose

offer

in

this

volume seem

more

mundane

than their theoretical

c1aims‚

a

ref1ection‚ I

would

suggest‚

of

the fact that their own approach

is

less distinctive

and innovative,

even with the Anqlo-American

wor1d‚

than they suggest„

The

papers

contributed

by

other

authors

to

this

volume

are also

of

considerable

interest: Hilary Allen

on

'Psychiatry

and

the

construction

of

the

feminine’,

Kobena Mercer on 'Racism and

transcultural

psychiatry',

Shulamit

Ramon

on

'The cateqory of

psychopathy‘‚ Pat Carlen on

'Psychiatry in

prisons‘

and

Colin

Gordon

on

'Psychiatry as a

problem

of

democracy'.

Hilary

A11en's

is

especially stimulating.

In

it‚

through

an

examination of

Eeminist

writinq‚

she directly

confronts

the issue

of

the

relation

between sexism

and

psychiatry.

Again the

conclusions she

draws

are controverial but the questions she

explores

are

crucial.

This

i s ‚

therefore‚

an

important and valuable collection of

papers:

it

will

be of

especial interest to

those already familiar

with

a range

of

socioloqical and historical writing

on

psychiatry.

Joan

Busfield

University

of

Essex.

ämgs

Comgetition

t i i i f f t i i i i fi t i fi * i O * i * * i * * * * i * ü * t * * * i i i i i i f ü fi i i f i i i i f f fi fi i f i i i fi

Q

Funding for

research

in

the social

sciences

has

never

'

been

buoyant.

Today,

however, funding bodies not only

control

the

purse

strings but

are

also being

encouraged to establish the parameters of research.

Readers

of

Medical sociology

News

who

have anxieties

about 'dirty money' might

be

interested in

a

rumour

that has

come

to

the

ear

of

the editor.

In

the wake

of

the

unsteadiness in

the

stock market,

the Stock

Exchange

Council

has

decided

to fund

a research project

t

i

*

i

ü

i

t

i

entitled

'Patterns

of

Health and Illness

amongst

the

*

Financial

C1asses'.

*

f

*

*

*

Q

*

Q

k

*

A

research proposal

of

no more than

150 words should

be

sent

to

the editor

by

the end

of

January.

The

printable and the wittiest will appear in the next

issue

of

Medical Sociology

News

and

a

small prize, the

equivalent

of

a few

B.P.

Shares‚ will

be

awarded

to the

*

Q

Q

f

i

1

Q

i

t

*

t

t

*

ü

*

*

*

*

*

winner.

i

*

ü * * * t * k i * i * * * * * fi i * * * t * * i * f i i i f i i Q ü Q * * i fi i * * * * * i * * t i * * * i i * * * l

STOP PRESS

STOP

PRESS

UNIVERSITY

OF

STERLING

social

Work Research

Centre

Research Fellow

Applications are invited from well qualified social science

graduates with experience

of

applied social research for a

Research Fellowship.

Preference will

be

given to candidates

with

a

knowledge of mental health services.

Applications from

staff

of

social

work agencies who can arrange secondment will

be

welcome.

The task

of

the

Centre‚

which is

funded jointly

by

the Economic and social Research Council and the social Work

Services Group

of

the Scottish Education Department,

is

to

conduct research into the effectiveness of

social work.

The

Research Fellow will

be

expected to

assist in the planning

and conduct

of

research studies

which will

examine

the

effectiveness

of

mental health

services.

The

appointments

will be

on the Research Range

1A (9,305

-

214,825).

The

contract

will

be

for

eighteen

months and

may

be

renewable for a

further fixed period.

Informal enquiries

may be

made to Professor Juliet

Cheetham,

Director,

social Hork Research Centre‚ University of

Sterling,

FK9

41a. Telephone

(0786

73171

ext. 2134.

Applications,

including the name

of

two

referees

should

be

sent

to the

University

Secretary‚ University

of

Sterling,

Sterling,

FK9 4LA

from

whom

further details

are available.

Closing date for

applications

Wednesday

14

December 1987.

63

The

followinq

books

have

been received.

to me

by

29

February

for

publication

in

the March issue.

Books for Review

All

reviews

should

be

sent

Plcase

avoid requesting

books

for

review

unless

you

can

meet

the

deadline.

Bennett.

w.r.

et.al.

Dixon‚ A.

Farrant‚

H.

and

Russell

J.

Fenton.

S.

et.a1.

G1endinning‚

C.

and

Millar, J.

Jones,

K.

and

Moon

G.

Kupev.

J.

( e d )

Last,

J.

Melia‚

K.

Mi1ne‚ D.

(ed).

McGuire‚ A.

et.al.

Patterson‚

J.T.

Patmore‚

C.

( e d ) .

Richardson‚ D.

Stanworth‚ M.

( e d ) .

Stockwell‚

J.

and

Clement,

S.

Townsend,

P.

et.

al.

warner‚

R.

wilkin.

D.

et.

al.

Your Good

Health.

How

to Stay well and what

to do Wfien You're

Not.

—

Harvard.

Dealing

with Drugs.

-

B.B.C.

The

Politics of

Health

Information.

-

London

Institute

of

Education.

Race‚

Health and

Welfare.

-

Department of

Sociology

University

of

Bristol.

Homen

and Povety

in Britain

-

wheatsheaf.

Health‚

Disease

and

Society.

An

Introductlon

to Medlcal

Geography.

-Routledge.

social

Problems

and

Mental

Health

—

Routledge

Public

Health and

Human

Bcology.

—

Prentxce

Hall.

Learning and

Working. The Occqpational

Socxalizatlon of

Nurses.

-

Tavistock.

Evaluating Mental Health Practice.

-

Croom

Helm.

The

Economics_of

Health

Care.

An

Introductorx

Text.

-

Routledqe.

The

Dread

Disease.

Cancer

and Modern

Amer1can

Culture.

—

Harvard.

Living After Mental

Illness.

-

Croom

Helm.

women and

the

Aids

Crisis.

-

Pandora.

Reproductive

Technologies. Gender,

Motherhood and

Medfcine.

—

Pollty.

Helping the

Problem Drinker.

-

Croom

Helm.

Health

and

Deprivation. Inequality

and

thc

North.

-

Croom

Helm.

Recovery

from

Schizophrenia.

Psychiatry and

Polxtlcal Bconnmy.

—

Routlodge.

Anatomy

of

Urban

General

Practice.

-

TaVlStOCk.

64