The social construction of pain: an evaluation

Abstract

Drawing upon the work of Hughes and Patterson, this paper addresses the issue of whether a socially constructed conception of pain is possible or desirable. Contrary to a number of postmodern inspired conceptions that pain exists exclusively at the level of discourse and linguistic construction, pain is viewed as a material barrier that exists beyond the politico‐aesthetic level. The body is much more than a canvas upon which we can create appropriate discursive formation to incorporate within our preferred conception of ‘self’. To recognize the existence of biologically based realities is not to accept biological dysfunction as the sole cause of disability or any other form of reactionary politics of disability.