ABSTRACT
'Culture' is sociologists' shorthand for the sets of ideas that social actors appear to be drawing on to generate and interpret actions. E. Freidson regards illness as a form of deviance from some concept of normality: it is both biological deviance and social deviance with distinct biological and social consequences. The biological event and its outcomes may be invariant, but the social event and its consequences are set within a cultural context. Medical knowledge is thought to tap that biological reality and provide stable and objective knowledge. Many sociologists have been misled into taking that for granted and studying the way social factors complicate medically diagnosed illnesses. Primary deviations are individual idiosyncrasies that can be accommodated within the normal performance of a social role, while secondary deviations themselves become roles, part of the social structure. The medical nature of an illness and the social response to it are interrelated.
