Labor, Social Exclusion, and Chronic Muscular Illness: The Case of Mid-Impoverished Sectors in a Peripheral Neighborhood in Madrid, Spain

Abstract

This study analyzes the combination of different and differing representations and care practices that social groups belonging to a mid-impoverished sector of Madrid use to alleviate chronic muscular pain, as well as the consequences that this has for both domestic and work life. I collected empirical evidence in a peripheral neighborhood of Madrid during 2004 using a number of anthropological methods such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, and life-history interviews. The following results can be singled out from the completed investigation: in the context of social impoverishment there are macrostructural factors that are transformed into health-destructive processes that influence the development and incidence of chronic muscular illness. This requires the different social groups that are suffering from this to establish a number of care practices mainly based on the use of Western medicine as well as other medical traditions of self-care. These practices relate to economic, educational, sociocultural, and ideological factors that characterize the lives of these individuals. This essay focuses on perceptions of illness and care practices beyond the biomedical context, as it addresses those representations and practices that these impoverished social groups display in accordance with their way of life and in relation to their ailments.

Key Words:

• chronic muscular illness
• representation
• social exclusion
• social practices
• work

Notes

According to the epidemiological study of the Spanish Society for Rheumatology (EPISER 2000: 40) “43,328 cases of lumbago were reported in 1993, which amounted to 1,048,448 working days missed and a cost of 11,423,889,408 pesetas. Data concerning 1994 reflect 45,989 cases of lumbago, 970,000 working days missed and a cost of 10,569,501,360 pesetas. The spine causes two million consultations in primary attention, and it is the first cause of morbidity in individuals under 50 years old, and the third in people over that age in our country. Finally, in the latest National Health Statistics, lumbar pain was one of the first causes of limitation of daily activity for over 10 days in people over 16 in the preceding year.” As far as the field of scientific research is concerned, this report is quite uncertain: “in the vast majority of cases, 88 percent) we cannot attribute the causes of lumbar ain to any specific injuries. Among the etiological factors identifies as more frequent we find the following: intensive physical effort, frequent rotation and flexion movements, heavy burden, and repetitive work” (EPISER 2000: 40).

According to Vicenç Navarro (2004: 4), “between 1993 and 2001 the Spanish public health budget increased only 21%, whereas the average increase in the EU-15 was much higher, 32.3%. Thus the Spanish deficit grew in relation to the EU-15, distancing itself from the aim of converging with EU-15.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Débora Betrisey

DÉBORA BETRISEY is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Her research focuses on the anthropology of labor and migrations, as well as on issues of health, illness, and care. She is the author of a book-length study on gender and migration in Northern Argentina. Her recent publications include articles in several Spanish and Latin American journals such as Sociología del Trabajo, Ager-Revista sobre Estudios sobre Despoblación y Desarrollo Rural, Revista Sociológica, Sociedad y Utopía, and Revista Antropológica. She can be reached at Departamento de Antropología Social, Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología, Campus de Somosaguas s/n, 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón-Madrid, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]