ABSTRACT
Diagnosis is the way in which medicine classifies disease. Both a category and a process, its purpose is to generalise about an individual case. From the symptoms, histories, and diagnostic tests, the diagnosis establishes a generic explanation for the illness along with associated treatments and prognosis. The critical scholar will note that diagnosis is a social action, anchored in history, politics, and ever-evolving science. It has a range of social consequences, from the allocation of resources to the legitimising of deviance. This chapter lays bare diagnosis as a social process and highlights the ways in which is it is shaped by historical, political, and other social processes outside of the body.
