[Women, madness and beyond.].
The author recalls the recent years debate in the American Journal of Sociology on the over-representation of women among the mental patients, The argument maintained by Gove et al. is that this over-representation is due to the specific role (that of a married woman) that society imposes on women, However, Phillips and Segal dispute this hypothesis by arguing that, if women are over-represented, it is because they feel freer than men to express their emotions. Gove answers that this last argument is wrong because women do not show a greater need than men for approval of their actions. Gove's arguments is also challenged by the Dohrenwends who deny the influence of the role of women on this over-representation and call for greater discernment in the analysis of data. Finally, the author presents espistemological criticism of the studies mentioned above and also of the assumptions made by an other author, Chesler.
Bertrand
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