American perceptions of allergies

Allergies have taken on cultural meanings other than those offered by biomedicine. Interviews with allergic and non-allergic Americans were used to investigate the explanatory models of the lay population. This thesis uses ethnographic data to examine explanatory models of allergic conditions, highlighting metaphorical uses of allergies in American culture. The explanatory models of the subjects were contrasted to the biomedical model and the stereotypes created by the media in the United States. Important topics addressed in the analysis of the interview material were: what are the explanatory models of allergies in America, how do allergies influence the selfimage of someone with that condition, and how Americans with and without allergies perceive the allergic individual.