Medical diagnosis of dyslexia in a Swedish elite school: A case of “consecrating medicalization”

Abstract

Based on qualitative data of an upper‐secondary school in Sweden’s primary elite community, Djursholm, I propose how medical diagnosis of students as dyslexics contributes to consecrating them by offering a short cut to successful performance, while at the same time reproducing differences between social classes. The study suggests how students that do not score top can be labeled dyslexic and the social and moral consequences of that. I introduce the concept of “consecrating medicalization” in order to discriminate between the effects of medical diagnosis of members of different social classes. In this way, this paper contributes to further examining some key problems in medical sociology and the sociology of elites, by offering a framework of synthesis and integration.

It’s Time to Be Scientific About Dyslexia

“…Differences in dyslexia conceptualization and operationalization, fueled by the term’s varied use both as a psychological/medical diagnosis and as a social construct (Kirby, 2018), have led to a burgeoning dyslexia assessment industry that disproportionally caters to more advantaged social, racial, and economic groups (Holmqvist, 2020) while distracting attention from the needs of high numbers of other struggling readers. Criteria for the diagnosis remain unclear and inconsistently applied by assessors, who are often directly employed by customers who are actively seeking the label.…”

“…Dyslexia 4 throws up a host of conceptual, operational, and ethical difficulties. Often applied to adults and diagnosed relatively late in their lives (Holmqvist, 2020; Locke, Alexander, Mann, Kibble, & Scallan, 2017), the diagnosis can be used to obtain various educational accommodations and resources (Asghar et al, 2018, 2019; J.G. Elliott, 2014).…”

“…To divert from this route runs the risk of misusing finite resources while maintaining or increasing an already existing inequity of provision. In this respect, Holmqvist (2020) spoke critically of a process of consecrating medicalization that aids the already more privileged to obtain a dyslexic label and all the benefits that accrue from this, while effectively excluding others with less social and cultural capital.…”

Economics as symbolic capital: The consecration of elite business schools

“…However, as is the case for most elite schools, the significant symbolic and informal functions of elite business schools is the consecration of students, i.e., their social and moral elevation, thus giving them not only the technical qualifications to lead and control the economy and society, but the social and moral legitimacy to do so as well (see e.g., Bourdieu, 1996;Holmqvist, 2020;Khan, 2011). The objectified, embodied, and institutional symbolic and cultural capital that contemporary elite business schools manifest and reproduce through their curricula, their academic prestige, the social networking they can offer their students, etc.…”

“…Similarly to other Swedish universities, tuition is free; but most students at the SSE still come from socioeconomically privileged backgrounds. Indeed, there is a straight line from an upbringing in the country's wealthy communities to studies at the SSE (see Holmqvist, 2018Holmqvist, , 2020. As is the case for other leading business schools in Europe and the US, this institution was created by businessmen in the early 1900s, primarily in order to raise their social standing and status vis-à-vis the established classes of priests, officials, and the nobility (Gunnarsson, 1988;Röbken, 2004).…”