LABELLED BODIES: CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES AND THE MEDICAL WAY OF KNOWING.

The article looks at the role of disease classification in clinical and hospital work. It references the concept of Ways of Knowing (WoK) in the fields of science, technology and medicine (STM) developed by science historian John Pickstone. According to the author, a variety of factors including notions of specificity in diseases, new developments in paper technologies and administrative practices, and the use of statistics to determine medical norms came together in the 19th century to form disease classification systems (DCS). It is suggested that these systems can be seen as mediating work styles bring together different technologies and processes into new and efficient configurations. Topics discussed include the Paris Clinical School, medical labour, and cancer.