The Modernization of Tradition: Thinking about Madness in Patna, India

Abstract

Thirty-nine educated middle-class residents of Patna, India, were interviewed about a vignette describing the behaviour of a seemingly mad man or woman. The interview explored their representations of traditional healing methods and of modern psychiatric notions. Besides explanations for mental illness and madness, the interviews also covered the reaction of families and neighbours to such phenomena. Respondents thought of different causes depending on the context, ranging from frustrated desires, shock and heredity to spirit possession. The majority’s spontaneous preference for modern psychiatric treatment often co-exists with a faith in traditional healing. This faith is strengthened by their family’s traditional preference. The results are discussed as an example of a process of modernization of common sense in which popularized scientific notions become anchored in the traditional setting of social structure and family life. The newly acquired knowledge forms a loosely organized social representation confronting a strongly objectified cultural representation of traditional thinking.