ABSTRACT
Among the bad habits of sociologists is the tendency to label things in such a way that the complexity of social experience is constrained in discrete and defined boundaries. Some of the consequences of this are that social life is presented (represented) as being much tidier than it actually is, and that social activity and social action is fragmented. Evidence of this tendency can be seen in the titles of sociological studies, claiming to be ‘The Sociology’ of ‘this’, ‘that’ or ‘the other’. At present there is no Sociology of Dementia, but when it arrives, no doubt it will conform to the standard format, even down to its title.
