The Evolution of Public Recognition and Its Consequences

Abstract

Recognition by medical, academic, popular, and political sources uniquely contributes to the growth of self-help, and as the previous chapter indicated, different types of self-help groups rely on different combinations of authorities for legitimation. The discovery of child abuse as a medical syndrome (Parents Anonymous) was facilitated by radiologists and pediatricians. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome became a piece of federal legislation crafted by the National SIDS Foundation, which relied heavily on the political maneuvering of its organizers, while advocates for imprisoned mothers who had committed infanticide (Depression After Delivery) appealed for support from viewers of Donahue and other television shows. In these and other cases, the goals and ideas of self-help become a part of the common discourse as they are increasingly supported by legitimate authority and adopted by new groups. Naturally, other institutional authorities are important for the growth of self-help, but these four areas are the most potent. Case studies detailed how entrepreneurs work to establish connections between self-help and authorities in these domains. By limiting analysis to several instances of legitimation, however, the overall development of the movement remains unknown. Clearly, legitimation underlies the growth of diverse kinds of groups but the linkage between diffusion in Chapter Three and recognition in Chapter Four needs to be explicit. How does political