Recent decades have witnessed a dramatic upsurge in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As researchers have investigated the responsible sociohistorical conditions, they have neglected how clinicians determine the diagnosis in local encounters in the first place. Articulating a position “between Foucault and Goffman,” we ask how the interaction order of the clinic articulates with larger-scale historical forces affecting the definition and distribution of ASD. First, we show how the diagnostic process has a narrative structure. Second, case data from three decades show how narrative practices accommodate to different periods in the history of the disorder, including changing diagnostic nomenclatures. Third, we show how two different forms of abstraction—Type A, which is categorical, and Type B, which is concrete and particular—inhabit the diagnostic process. Our analysis contributes to the sociology of autism, the sociology of diagnosis, the sociology of abstraction, and social theory.

中文翻译：

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进行抽象：自闭症、诊断和社会理论。


近几十年来，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的患病率急剧上升。当研究人员调查了负责任的社会历史条件时，他们首先忽略了临床医生如何在当地遭遇中确定诊断。阐明“福柯和戈夫曼之间”的立场，我们询问诊所的相互作用秩序如何与影响自闭症谱系障碍的定义和分布的更大规模的历史力量相联系。首先，我们展示诊断过程如何具有叙事结构。其次，三十年的案例数据显示了叙事实践如何适应疾病历史的不同时期，包括不断变化的诊断术语。第三，我们展示了两种不同形式的抽象——A 类（绝对的）和 B 类（具体的、特殊的）——如何存在于诊断过程中。我们的分析有助于自闭症社会学、诊断社会学、抽象社会学和社会理论。