The sociologist Jason Schnittker looks at the multiple actors involved in crafting the DSM and the many interests that the manual hopes to serve. The Diagnostic System urges us to become comfortable with the socially constructed nature of categorization and accept that a perfect taxonomy of mental-health disorders will remain elusive.
Jason Schnittker investigates the social, cultural, medical, and scientific underpinnings of the modern mental state. He explores how anxiety has been understood from the late nineteenth century to the present day and why it has assumed a more central position in how we think about mental health.
Prisons and Health in the Age of Mass Incarceration explores how incarceration undermines the health of people currently and formerly in prison. The book uses years of empirical research to show the intricate web of pathways through which mass incarceration also weakens the health and well-being of families, communities, and health care systems. It explores the social and legal forces that have made these connections possible, as well as the implications of the incarceration-health relationship for understanding and reforming about the justice system.