Journal article
A very childish moral panic: Ritalin
Journal of Medical Humanities, Vol.24(1/2), pp.9-33
2003
Abstract
This paper examines some of the moral panics around hyperactive children, the construction of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, and the lure of Ritalin in turning kids identified as “at risk” into successful, productive individuals. Through a historicization of the child as a psychiatric subject, we try to demonstrate Ritalin's part in the uneven development of modern trends towards the pathologization of everyday life, a developing continuum between normality and abnormality, and an emphasis on the malleability of children and the importance of environment in their upbringing. We conclude that Ritalin is a part of modernity's project of turning people into individuals—in this case, a kind of US transcendence fantasy—which, along with discourses and institutions, promises to transform young subjects and biocosmetically alter their futures.
Details
- Title
- A very childish moral panic: Ritalin
- Authors/Creators
- T. Miller (Author/Creator) - Cultural Studies and Cultural Policy, Department of Cinema Studies, New York University, New YorkM.C. Leger (Author/Creator) - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Publication Details
- Journal of Medical Humanities, Vol.24(1/2), pp.9-33
- Publisher
- Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers
- Identifiers
- 991005544269307891
- Copyright
- © 2003 Human Sciences Press, Inc.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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