ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the ways in which society is represented by individuals through discussions of the impact of chronic illness and disablement upon them. Using an approach that is nowadays referred to as narrative analysis, I focus in detail on one individual as a case within whose account the workings of various societal forces can be discerned. The themes arising out of this are then given more general interpretation. I argue that in articulating the experience of illness in relation to their social milieux individuals elaborate moral discourses based on their own biographical experiences which often stand counter to the dominant rhetoric of both professionals and politicians.
