Severe brain injury and boundary work

  • Anette Lykke Hindhede (Oplægsholder)

Aktivitet: Foredrag og mundtlige bidragKonferenceoplæg

Beskrivelse

Based on the concept of boundary work as developed by Michèle Lamont (2000), this paper focuses on how people having survived severe traumatic brain injury construe themselves and the rest of society and how ways of enacting boundaries occur in everyday interactions with others. The qualitative study rests on in-depth interviews with 20 working aged people from all over Denmark and 5 years after the injury. Data suggests two diverse age-related constructions of boundary work based on how respondents used various symbolic distinctions to define who they are and to situate themselves in relation to others. The older respondents reinforced collective norms of the typical brain damaged individual, thus manifesting strong symbolic boundaries at the level of both individual and collective identity. The younger respondents, however, who had more at stake, sought to affect the predominant stereotypes as not being able to work and transform their collective identity by expressing equalization strategies. They had various levels of success due to strong social boundaries manifesting themselves through unequal patterns of access to work (due to the rules and regulations of the Danish state) affecting his/her life chances. The paper ends by challenging the assumption about the homogeneity of experiences and group collectivity among people who share the diagnosis severe acquired brain injury and that the strength of boundaries is likely less linear than suggested in other research.
Periode17 sep. 2017
BegivenhedstitelBSA 49th Medical Sociology Annual Conference 2017
BegivenhedstypeKonference
PlaceringYork, StorbritannienVis på kort
Grad af anerkendelseInternational