Ignorance and complexity: The sociology of mental illness
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_ais/ais.2021426228Keywords:
Medical sociology, mental illness, sociology, systems sociology, social imaginariesAbstract
Is the sociology of mental illness possible? This article addresses this question by first describing the lack of proven knowledge about mental illness (ignorance). Secondly, it describes how social systems approach the complexity that this fact entails from a sociology of systems. Having addressed these two key elements, we review four contributions to the sociology of mental illness: first, the concept of mental health literacy in contemporary societies; second, we describe the complex web that associates a stigma of violence and dangerousness with mental illness; third, the proposal of agent-based models; and finally, the social imaginaries of mental illness as tools for understanding the simplification of the complexity and management of ignorance that every social system faces. The article ends by answering in the affirmative to the question posed and delimiting the conditions of possibility for a sociology of mental illness.
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