This edited volume brings together leading scholars to explore the
emergence of the stress concept and its ever-changing definitions since
the 1940s.
Stress is one of the most widely utilized medical concepts in modern
society. Originally used to describe physiological responses to trauma,
it is now applied in a variety of other fields and contexts, such as in
the constructionand expression of personal identity, social relations,
building and engineering, and the various complexities of the
competitive capitalist economy. In addition, scientists and medical
experts use the concept to explore the relationship between an
ever-increasing number of environmental stressors and the evolution of
an expanding range of mental and chronic organic diseases, such as
hypertension, gastric ulcers, arthritis, allergies, and cancer.
Thisedited volume brings together leading scholars to explore the
emergence and development of the stress concept and its definitions as
they have changed over time. It examines how stress and closely related
concepts have been used to connect disciplines such as architecture,
ecology, physiology, psychiatry, psychology, public health, urban
planning, and a range of social sciences; its application in different
settings such as the battlefield, workplace, clinic, hospital, and home;
and the advancement of techniques of stress management in a number of
different national, sociocultural, and scientific locations.
Contributors: Theodore M. Brown, David Cantor, Otniel E. Dror, Rhodri
Hayward, Mark Jackson, Robert G. W. Kirk, Junko Kitanaka, Tulley Long,
Joseph Melling, Edmund Ramsden, Elizabeth Siegel Watkins, Allan Young.
David Cantor is acting director, Office of History, National
Institutesof Health. Edmund Ramsden is Wellcome Trust University Award
Research Fellow at the School of History, Queen Mary, University of
London.
