Implicit Bias, Dehumanisation and the Necessity for Legal Companions in Official Spaces

In this essay I am going to explore how prejudices based on stereotypes affect the support which gets extended to individuals and how legal companions and accessible legal documentation may be needed as a corrective to implicit bias. I reflect on how bureaucratised and managerial professional organisations can lead to the depersonalising of agent/client relations resulting in the ultimate dehumanization of both the principle agent and the client. The effects are however most felt by the client who is at the bottom of a power differential. I draw on principal-agent theory to analyse the power differentials found in the support-need juncture. Read more…

Critical Analysis of the Medical Institution With Special Focus on Madness

In this online version of a paper written as a part of a Masters course at Queen Margaret University I have used visual screengrabs from the original texts. For the purposes of review and education I have chosen to integrate excerpts from each cited reference inline to assist the reader in learning more deeply the arguments which are being laid out.  The reader is encouraged to work through all the reference texts as each one offers a series of nuances important for unpacking the complex issues being dealt with. Read more…