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Author O'Brien, Gerald, 1958- author

Title Contagion and the national body : the organism metaphor in American thought / Gerald V. O'Brien
Published Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (x, 137 pages)
Contents Introduction to metaphor theory and its use in public policy -- Overview of the organism metaphor -- Brief overview of relevant alarm periods -- Diagnosis and categorization of "otherness" -- Metaphoric disease-making -- Penetration of the social body -- Transmission throughout and decay of the social body -- Metaphorical public health responses -- Conclusion
Summary "Drawing on the work of George Lakoff, this book provides a detailed analysis of the organism metaphor, which draws an analogy between the national or social body and a physical body. With attention to the manner in which this metaphor conceives of various sub-groups as either beneficial or detrimental to the (social) body's overall functioning, the author examines the use of this metaphor to view marginalized sub-populations as invasive or contagious entities that need to be treated in the same way as harmful bacteria or pathogens. Analyzing the organism metaphor as it was employed in the service of social injustice through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States, Contagion and the National Body focuses on the alarm eras of the restrictive immigration period (1890-1924), the agitation against Chinese and Japanese populations on the West Coast, the eugenic period's targeting of feeble-minded persons and other "defectives," periods of anti-Semitism, the anti-Communist movements, and various forms of racial animosity against African-Americans."--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Marginality, Social -- United States -- History
Contagion (Social psychology) -- United States -- History
Metaphor -- Social aspects -- History
Social problems -- United States -- History
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
Contagion (Social psychology)
Marginality, Social
Metaphor -- Social aspects
Social policy
Social problems
SUBJECT United States -- Social policy. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140547
Subject United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781351394086
1351394088
9781315141633
1315141639
9781351394093
1351394096
9781351394079
135139407X