Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dormant Issues? Towards a Sociology of Sleep

  • Chapter
Exploring the Body

Abstract

It is by now a well-rehearsed argument that, until quite recently, sociology has been almost exclusively concerned with matters of life rather than death. As the cessation of life itself, death was seen as at best peripheral and at worst irrelevant to the sociological enterprise. Yet death now, sociologically speaking, is ‘big business’, spanning a diversity of corporeal themes and socio-cultural issues from the existential dilemmas of the reflexive self (Mellor and Shilling 1993) to the ‘public invigilation of private grief’ (Walter et al. 1995), and from the ‘sequestration of experience’ (Giddens 1991) to the postmodern deconstruction of ‘immortality’ itself (Bauman 1992).

The bed, you must remember, is the symbol of life…There is nothing good except the bed, and are not some of our best moments spent in sleep?

(Guy de Maupassant, n.d.: 682)

The sleeper is never completely isolated within himself [sic], never totally a sleeper…never totally cut off from the intersubjective world… Sleep and waking, illness and health are not modalities of consciousness or will, but presuppose an ‘existential step’.

(Merleau-Ponty 1962: 162)

The notion that going to sleep is something natural is totally inaccurate.

(Mauss 1973: 80)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alvarez, A. 1995. Night. London: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ariès, P. 1976. Western Attitudes towards Death and Dying: From the Middle Ages to the Present. London: Marion Boyars.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aubert, V. and White, H. 1959a. ‘Sleep: A Sociological Interpretation I’, Acta Sociologica 4 (2): 46–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aubert, V. and White, H. 1959b. ‘Sleep: A Sociological Interpretation II’, Acta Sociologica, 4 (3): 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, J. 1988. Selected Writings, ed. M. Poster. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. 1992. Mortality, Immortality and Other Life-Strategies. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaxter, M. 1990. Health and Lifestyles. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brannen, J. and Moss, P. 1988. Mothers and Daughters: A Three Generational Study of Health Attitudes and Behaviour. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craib, I. 1995. ‘Some Comment on the Sociology of Emotions’, Sociology, 29 (1): 151–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosnett, J. 1997. ‘Charles Dickens and Sleep Disorders’, The Dickensian, 443 (93) (part 3): 200–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, B.D., Blaxter, M., Buckle, A.L.F. et al. 1987. The Health and Lifestyle Survey: Preliminary Report. London: The Health Promotion Research Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • De la Mare, W. 1939. Behold this Dreamer. London: Faber and Faber.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Maupassant, G. n.d. The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant. London: Blue Ribbon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim, E. [1912]1961. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, N. [1939]1978. The Civilizing Process: Vol. I: the History of Manners. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, N. [1939]1982. The Civilizing Process, Vol. II: State Formations and Civilization. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 1979. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, A.W. 1991. ‘For a sociology of the Body: An Analytical Review’, in M. Featherstone, M. Hepworth and B.S. Turner (eds.) The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. [1953]1976. The Interpretation of Dreams. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freund, P.E.S. 1990. ‘The Expressive Body: A Common Ground for the Sociology of Emotions and Health and Illness’, Sociology of Health and Illness, 12 (4): 452–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and Self-Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleichmann, P.R. 1980. ‘Einige soziale Wandlungen des Schlafens’, Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 9 (3): 236–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. 1961. Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hind, J. 1997. ‘London index: Beds’, London Evening Standard. 3 October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, S.M., McEwen, J and McKenna, S.P. 1986. Measuring Health Status. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Illich, I. 1975. Medical Nemesis. London: Calder and Boyars.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jamous, H and Pelliole, B. 1970. ‘Changes in the French University-Hospital sys-tem’, in J.A. Jackson (ed.) Professions and Professionalisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, H.M. 1931. Bodily Positions in Restful Sleep. New York: The Simmons Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, H.M., Swan, T.H. and Weigand, G.E. 1930. ‘In What Positions Do Healthy People Sleep?’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 94: 2058–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellehear, A. 1984. ‘Are we a “death-denying” society?’, Social Science and Medicine, 18 (9): 713–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McIlvaine, P. H. 1972. ‘The bedroom’, Human Factors, 14(5): 421–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauss, M. [1934]1973. ‘Techniques of the body’, Economy and Society, 2: 70–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellor, P. and Shilling, S. 1993. ‘Modernity, Self-identity and the Sequestration of Death’, Sociology, 27 (3): 411–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mennell, S. 1989: Norbert Elias: Civilization and the Human Self-Image. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. 1962. The Phenomenology of Perception, trans. by C. Smith. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, E.J. 1965. Sleep, Dreams and Arousal. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, T. 1951. The Social System. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popay, J. 1992. ‘“My Health is Alright, but I’m just Tired All the Time”: Women’s Experience of Ill Health’, in H. Roberts (ed.) Women’s Health Matters. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, P. 1980. Race Relations at Work. Leamington Spa: Warwick District Community Relations Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, P. 1996a. ‘“Race”, Ethnicity and Housing Differentials in Britain’, in V. Karn (ed.) Employment, Education and Housing among Ethnic Minorities in Britain. Ethnicity in the 1991 Census, Volume 4. London: HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe, P. 1996b. ‘Race’ and Housing in Bradford. Bradford: Bradford Housing Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridsdale, L. 1989. ‘Chronic Fatigue in Family Practice’, Journal of Family Practice, 29 (5): 486–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. 1989. Governing the Soul. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheper-Hughes, N. and Lock, M. 1987. ‘The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future Work in Medical Anthropology’, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 1 (1): 6–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shilling, C. 1997. ‘The (Un)socialised Conception of the (Embodied) Agent in Modern Sociology’, Sociology, 31 (4): 737–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smaje, C. 1995. Health ‘Race’ and Ethnicity: Making Sense of the Evidence. London: King’s Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strong, P. 1979. ‘Sociological Imperialism and the Medical Profession: A critical Examination of the Thesis of Medical Imperialism’, Social Science and Medicine, 13A (2): 199–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, B. 1993. ‘Unconsciouness and Society: The Sociology of Sleep’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 6 (3): 463–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B.S. 1994. Preface, in P. Falk. The Consuming Body. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, T. 1995. The Revival of Death. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, T., Littlewood, J. and Pickering M. 1995. ‘Death in the News: The Public Invigilation of Private Grief’, Sociology, 29 (4): 579–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, S.J. and Bendelow, G. 1998. The Lived Body: Sociological Themes, Embodied Issues. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Woods, R.L. (ed.) 1947. The World of Dreams: An Anthology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, I. 1962. Warm and Snug: A History of the Bed. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Simon J. Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK

    Sarah Cunningham-Burley (Reader) (Reader)

  2. Research Unit in Health, Behaviour and Change, University of Edinburgh, UK

    Kathryn Backett-Milburn (Senior Research Fellow) (Senior Research Fellow)

Copyright information

© 2001 British Sociological Association

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Williams, S.J. (2001). Dormant Issues? Towards a Sociology of Sleep. In: Cunningham-Burley, S., Backett-Milburn, K. (eds) Exploring the Body. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501966_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation