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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做抽象：自闭症，诊断和社会理论。

最近几十年来，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的患病率急剧上升。由于研究人员调查了负责任的社会历史状况，因此他们首先忽略了临床医生如何在局部遭遇中确定诊断。明确指出“福柯与高夫曼之间”的立场，我们询问诊所的互动顺序如何与影响ASD定义和分布的大规模历史力量相结合。首先，我们展示诊断过程如何具有叙述结构。其次，来自三十年的病例数据表明，叙事实践如何适应疾病史的不同时期，包括不断变化的诊断术语。第三，我们展示两种不同的抽象形式-类型A（类别A）和类型B（这是具体而特殊的-驻留在诊断过程中。我们的分析有助于自闭症的社会学，诊断的社会学，抽象的社会学和社会理论。