Current Research at ISERP
Networks of Expertise and the Autism Spectrum
by Gil Eyal (Sociology)
The proposed project seeks to develop and validate an alternative approach to the study of autism, by treating it as a bio-social phenomenon. The main argument is that the causes for the recent exponential rise in autism spectrum diagnoses should be sought neither in purely biological factors, nor in purely social factors, but in a complex process of Â"loopingÂ" between the two. Looping simply means that the subjects of diagnosis – autistic children and their parents – are not indifferent to the act of being diagnosed, but react to it in ways that are difficult to predict and control. As a result, what is known about them may become false. In the case of autism, such looping is even more consequential since it involves also the fact that patients and parents have become Â"lay expertsÂ" with considerable input on how the disorder is viewed and treated.
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Funded by National Science Foundation »
