Barbara Hanson

Questioning the construction of maternal age as a fertility problem.

The belief that fertility problems derive from maternal age, increasing markedly at 35, reflects social constructions of biology in developed nations. These constructions perpetuate a negative view of female aging. However, research since 1985 can be interpreted to suggest that there is no, or minimal, association between maternal age and problems associated with fertility. Differences in problems between pre- and postmaternal age 35 fertility can be explained by social conditions occurring with fertility, notably, parenting decisions, physical problems with the male and the potential child, and medical intervention. Once we look at fertility as a relationship among the woman, the man, and the potential child, rather than the woman only, we can see these factors. These components suggest that maternal age may be related only tangentially to successful fertility.

Who's seeing whom?: General systems theory and constructivist implications for senile dementia intervention

Abstract The constructivist notion that people act based not on things, but rather on the meaning things have for them and a systems view of feedback causality leads to a notion of senile dementia as a process. Looking at families where the idea that someone is sick is constructed and maintained and considering what these construction processes mean for the experiences of senile dementia, suggests that families drive the process. This means that it is possible to posit a model of difference between the seen clinical population and broader population, which is based not on etiological symptoms, but rather on subjective definitions of problems. Senile dementia can therefore be considered a “social” disease separate from physical causes.

The potential of videotape data: Emotional correlates of senile dementia in families as a case in point

In this article I outline how videotape serves validity whenever the theoretical constructs of context, constructivism, or emotion are used. This argument is grounded in my investigation of senile dementia in families which used videotaped interaction samples of 45 family dyads and triads in combination with self report and diagnostic data. This project resulted in the development of the definitional deficit/definitional equality typology and the construct of the patienting process in senile dementia. It also suggested rethinking methods and analysis to keep pace with the new flexibility provided by use of VHS videotape.

Two minds, two hearts: Questioning inter-rater agreement using emotional data with senile dementia

Abstract Analysis of multiple coder data derived from videotaped family interaction suggests that multiple coder data used as a whole, and data feelings on impressions, are better predictors of senile dementia than average case scores or formal data. These results suggest a shift in thinking about the epistemological underpinning of research methods to consider the practical implications of constructivist and systems thought as it applies to research staff, as well research subjects.

Social constructions of fatness: legal proceedings in Canada as a case in point

Abstract This article uses reports of cases of Canadian legal processes to explore social constructions of fatness as disability, as well as illness, cultural aesthetic, and blame. The review of cases in Canadian human rights, civil, administrative, and employment law suggests that fatness has been constructed as a disability in Canadian law. This has led to favourable outcomes for fat persons seeking redress for discrimination. Illness, cultural aesthetic, and blame also surface as recurrent themes. To consider all four themes, a concept of mythopoeia – myth-making process – is introduced. This adds to models of social construction by focusing on where ‘un-reality’ is constructed in a non-hierarchical view of marginal identities. Fatness constructions/mythopoeia of disability, illness, cultural aesthetic, and blame overlap as well as diverge. This suggests that fatness may be an incomplete fit with current classifications in human rights law.

An Implicit Religious Reflex to Mechanism and a Holistic Alternative: Social Theory as a Case in Point

This article looks at how medieval Christian politics and modes of thought have led to a an implicitly religious reflex toward mechanism in social theory. Social theoretical activity of the past 75 years has criticized conceptions of modernity, science, objectivity, and reason as artifacts of European or western thought from the 1500s onwards. Such critiques can be supplemented by looking at the way these ideas grew out of dominant monotheistic Christianity in the Middle Ages (400s–1400s) in territories that later became Europe. They were carried, via religious scholasticism, into the formation and maintenance of academia. This mechanistic reflex persists and might be transformed by alternative holistic epistemology.