A Discussion of Explanatory Discourses in Studies of Breast Cancer: a revised version of a paper presented at the Nordic Sociological Conference, Malmoe, Sweden, August 20-22, 2004

Sociology of health research has often focused on quality of life and individual coping strategies of female breast cancer patients. Another important research field is the search for explanations of the disease. Here, epidemiologists and medical sociologists have concentrated on the study of statistical correlations between the incidence of breast cancer and the individuals’ social characteristics, risk behaviour or life-style factors. In this paper we document the development of the disease in Denmark, and discuss from a sociological point of view the assumptions underlying the various explanations of the occurrence of the disease. With the help of meta-analysis of selected studies of the risk factors/causes of breast cancer we demonstrate how the conclusions in these studies are biased by assumptions originating from dominant health discourses and gender representations.