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Disrupted Lives : How People Create Meaning in a Chaotic World
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ISBN: 0585105952 0520919246 9780520919242 9780585105956 9780520209145 0520209141 0520209133 0520209141 Year: 1999 Publisher: Berkeley, California : University of California Press,

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Abstract

Our lives are full of disruptions, from the minor--a flat tire, an unexpected phone call--to the fateful--a diagnosis of infertility, an illness, the death of a loved one. In the first book to examine disruption in American life from a cultural rather than a psychological perspective, Gay Becker follows hundreds of people to find out what they do after something unexpected occurs. Starting with bodily distress, she shows how individuals recount experiences of disruption metaphorically, drawing on important cultural themes to help them reestablish order and continuity in their lives. Through vivid and poignant stories of people from different walks of life who experience different types of disruptions, Becker examines how people rework their ideas about themselves and their worlds, from the meaning of disruption to the meaning of life itself. Becker maintains that to understand disruption, we must also understand cultural definitions of normalcy. She questions what is normal for a family, for health, for womanhood and manhood, and for growing older. In the United States, where life is expected to be orderly and predictable, disruptions are particularly unsettling, she contends. And, while continuity in life is an illusion, it is an effective one because it organizes people's plans and expectations. Becker's phenomenological approach yields a rich, compelling, and entirely original narrative. Disrupted Lives acknowledges the central place of discontinuity in our existence at the same time as it breaks new ground in understanding the cultural dynamics that underpin life in the United States. FROM THE BOOK:"The doctor was blunt. He does not mince words. He did a [semen] analysis and he came back and said, 'This is devastatingly poor.' I didn't expect to hear that. It had never occurred to me. It was such a shock to my sense of self and to all these preconceptions of my manliness and virility and all of that. That was a very, very devastating moment and I was dumbfounded. . . . In that moment it totally changed the way that I thought of myself.".

Keywords

Life change events --- Adjustment (Psychology) --- Adaptation, Psychological --- Life Change Events --- Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms --- Life Style --- Psychology, Social --- Psychiatry and Psychology --- Psychology --- Social Sciences --- Psychology, Perceptual --- Social Psychology --- Perceptual Psychology --- Life Style Induced Illness --- Lifestyle --- Lifestyle Factors --- Factor, Lifestyle --- Life Styles --- Lifestyle Factor --- Lifestyles --- Quality of Life --- Social Environment --- Behavior And Behavior Mechanism --- Analysis, Event History --- Event History Analysis --- Life Experiences --- Analyses, Event History --- Event History Analyses --- Event, Life Change --- Events, Life Change --- Experience, Life --- Experiences, Life --- Life Change Event --- Life Experience --- Stress, Psychological --- Adaptation, Psychologic --- Adjustment --- Coping Skills --- Psychological Adaptation --- Behavior, Adaptive --- Coping Behavior --- Adaptive Behavior --- Adaptive Behaviors --- Behavior, Coping --- Behaviors, Adaptive --- Behaviors, Coping --- Coping Behaviors --- Coping Skill --- Psychologic Adaptation --- Skill, Coping --- Skills, Coping --- Allostasis --- Resilience, Psychological --- Accommodation (Psychology) --- Adaptation (Psychology) --- Adapting behavior --- Adaptive behavior --- Coping behavior --- Maladjustment (Psychology) --- Personality --- Adaptability (Psychology) --- #SBIB:39A9 --- Medische antropologie / gezondheid / handicaps --- Factors, Psychological --- Psychological Factors --- Psychological Side Effects --- Psychologists --- Psychosocial Factors --- Side Effects, Psychological --- Factor, Psychological --- Factor, Psychosocial --- Factors, Psychosocial --- Psychological Factor --- Psychological Side Effect --- Psychologist --- Psychosocial Factor --- Side Effect, Psychological --- american culture. --- american society. --- anthropology. --- applied psychology. --- bodily distress. --- continuity. --- cultural documents. --- cultural themes. --- dealing with the unexpected. --- discontinuity. --- disordered body. --- disorders. --- disrupted life. --- disruption. --- limbo. --- meaning of disruption. --- meaning of life. --- medical anthropology. --- metaphor. --- metaphors of transformation. --- narrative. --- normalcy. --- order and chaos. --- personal identity. --- personal responsibility. --- social sciences. --- united states of america.

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