Schizophrenia
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Abstract
Nicola Madge were commissioned to review the literature on deprivation, and this book presents their findings. It opens with the exchange between Alice and Humpty Dumpty †̃¿ When I use a word . . . it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' This helps to explain why cycle becomes plural and why deprivation, a word mistrusted by Rutter, becomes disadvantage. It is clear that there is no one form ofdisadvantage, and that the various types must be dealt with separately. The authors work their way through the literature on nine major areas: economic status, housing, intellectual and scholastic performance, occupational status, crime and delin quency, psychiatric disorder, parenting, multi problem families, and ethnic minorities. In all they cover almost one thousand references, mostly recent and with particular reference to the presence or absence of intergenerational continuity of dis advantage. This is a really major undertaking. The whole is a condensed and detailed volume, and one is over whelmed by page after page of finely argued pre sentations. As a source book, however, it will prove invaluable. It provides a brief statement of the current state of knowledge and the key references in almost every topic of relevance to social psychiatry in its widest meaning. It is the ideal starting point for anyonewishingtoinitiate a research projectorbegin a reading programme. The book as a whole has a further educational function, albeit a rather de pressing one. It reveals how little real evidence there is to support many strongly held views on social issues, and worse still how few research findings can be relied upon to guide social policy. Sir Keith's cycle may not exist as such, but we can at least thank him for pedalling into motion the processes that generated this important book. With luck it may help break the cycle of transmitted mis conception which occurs at present in many higher educational departments. STEPHEN WOLKIND