Renaming the Wheel: Social Model Constructs in Older Sociological Literature

Abstract

Purpose

This paper was written to show that what has come to be called the social model of disability appeared as the primary analytical framework in research published by sociologists in the 1960s and 1970s. Although the name and constructs of the model have changed over the years, its roots are clearly present in the earlier sociological literature. The author looked for evidence of these roots.

Methodology/approach

The paper’s findings are based on a literature review and synthesis. For illustrative purposes, four publications were selected as case examples.

Findings

All of the components of the social model – locus of the problem in society, activism as a solution, and consumer control – appeared in the earlier literature. In addition, these studies conducted in the 1970s and earlier distinguished between the individual and social model, although they used different terminology.

Research implications

Researchers need to go beyond simple electronic literature searches in order to find books and articles written prior to 1980. Otherwise, they may be “reinventing the wheel.”

Originality/value

Most recent literature in disability studies acknowledges a debt to the social model theorists of the 1990s. This paper suggests that their debt extends back much further and that the social model is part of a long tradition of sociological thinking.

Citation

Darling, R.B. (2016), "Renaming the Wheel: Social Model Constructs in Older Sociological Literature", Sociology Looking at Disability: What Did We Know and When Did We Know it (Research in Social Science and Disability, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 227-240. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-354720160000009011