Winner of the 2024 Outstanding Book Award, Social Problems Theory Division, Society for the Study of Social Problems
Mammography is a routine health screening performed forty million times each year in the United States, yet it remains one of the most deeply contested topics in medicine, with national health care organizations supporting conflicting guidelines. In Mammography Wars, sociologist Asia Friedman examines cultural and medical disagreements over mammography. At issue is whether to screen women under age fifty, which is rooted in deeper questions about early detection and the assumed linear and progressive development of breast cancer. Based on interviews with doctors and scientists, interviews with women ages 40 to 50, and newspaper coverage of mammography, Friedman uses the sociology of attention to map the cognitive structure of the "mammography wars," offering insights into the entrenched nature of debates over mammography that often get missed when applying a medical lens. Friedman's analysis also suggests the sociology of attention's unique potential for analyzing cultural conflicts beyond mammography, and even beyond medicine.
| ISBN: | 9781978830639 |
| Publication date: | 16th June 2023 |
| Author: | Asia Friedman |
| Publisher: | Rutgers University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 276 pages |
| Series: | Critical Issues in Health and Medicine |
| Genres: |
Gender studies: women and girls Medical screening Oncology Coping with / advice about illness and specific health conditions Health, illness and addiction: social aspects |