First published in 1971, The Process of Becoming Ill is concerned with how people become ill: not with how people contract diseases but how people come to occupy the social status of ‘sick person’. It is concerned with an analysis of illness behaviour in terms of what it means to be an ill person or a member of the family of an ill person by studying twenty-four families in South Wales. The study was intended to suggest areas of interest for those concerned with the study of illness behaviour which might, at a later date, be looked at in the light of specific questions suitable for more comprehensive enquiry. This book will be of interest to students of medicine, medical sociology, and health care.
