AIDS, Fear and Society: Challenging the Dreaded Disease (Death Education, Aging and Health Care) [Paperback]

Kenneth J. Doka (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1560326816 | ISBN-13: 978-1560326816 | Publication Date: May 3, 1997 | Edition: 1

Historically, AIDS is just one of a series of dreaded diseases that have aroused both great fear and irrational actions. The previous diseases, including bubonic plague, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy and cancer, have evoked such a sense of dread that rational moves to halt the disease have become compromised. This text examines the deep sense of fear that AIDS evokes, stigmatizing those who suffer from the disease, as well as their families and caregivers. Until AIDS can be seen for what it actually is - a life-threatening disease - policies providing for humane treatment will not evolve. The book also emphasizes that diseases are more than biological phenomena or individual catastrophes - they are profoundly social events. The ways in which diseases are spread and treated are strongly influenced by larger sociological considerations, and they may have the capacity to change social institutions or society itself. Rooting AIDS in the history of diseases, the first part of the book reviews the nature, history and responses of earlier dreaded diseases. The next section examines AIDS itself, proposed as the archetypal dreaded disease. Already creating a sense of panic, AIDS is also shown to be a social disease, likely to have significant effects on the social order. Thus, only by containing the epidemic of fear and controlling the resulting irrationality, can the AIDS epidemic be halted.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Doka has a clear approach as an historian/sociologist, clinician and pastor. They all come together in ways that will inform and move you off your point of stuckness to get involved.
–The Rev. Dr. Richard B. Gilbert, Resources Hotline

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis; 1 edition (May 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560326816
• ISBN-13: 978-1560326816
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,720,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FYI - condoms are not ice skates, February 24, 2007

By 

Dwight (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: AIDS, Fear and Society: Challenging the Dreaded Disease (Death Education, Aging and Health Care) (Hardcover)

If New York City distributes "subway condoms" for free, the give-away will not encourage people to go out and have sex unlike ice skates which if they were given away for free, I would take up ice skating! The Catholic Church should back away from this matter for the sake of the HEALTH of human beings.