The ideology of the epidemic

New Political Science

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 65-82

  Lavin, Chad ^a   Russill, Chris ^b  

^a VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b CARLETON UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 79956176796     PISSN: 07393148     EISSN: 14699931     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/07393140903492142     Document Type: Article

References (129)

1. Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel (New York: Norton, 1997).
2. Gina Kolata, Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused it All (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999, 2005).
3. John Barry, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (New York: Penguin, 2004).
4. Mike Davis, The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005).
5. Stephen Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (New York: Riverhead Books, 2006).
6. Harold Varmus, "Virus as Metaphor: Microbiology and '28 Days Later,'" New York Times, July 6, 2003.
7. Alex Kotlowitz, "Blocking the Transmission of Violence, " New York Times Magazine, May 4, 2008.
8. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Little, Brown, 2000).
9. Charles Taylor, Modern Social Imaginaries (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004).
10. Charles Taylor, Modern Social Imaginaries (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), p. 23.
11. Charles Taylor, Modern Social Imaginaries (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), p. 26.
12. For other discussions of an epidemic or epidemiological imaginary, see John Nguyet Erni, "Epidemic Imaginary: Performing Global Figurations of 'Third World AIDS.'" Space and Culture, 9: 4 (2006), pp. 429-452.
13. and "SARS, Avian Flu, and the Urban Double Take, " in D. Davis and H. Siu (eds), SARS: Reception and Interpretation in Three Chinese Cities (New York: Routledge, 2007).
14. and Chris Russill, "Tipping Point Forewarnings of Climate Change: Some Implications of An Emerging Trend, " Environmental Communication 2:2 (2008), pp. 133-153.
15. Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008).
16. Richard Preston, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (New York: Random House, 1994).
17. Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases In a World Out of Balance (New York: Penguin, 1994).
18. Jeffery Taubenberger and David Morens, "1918 Influenza: The Mother of All Pandemics, " Emerging Infectious Diseases 12:1 (2006), pp. 15-22.
19. "Scientist Attacks Bird Flu Plans, " BBC News, March 13, 2005, available online at: (accessed November 1, 2009).
20. Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating The Future in Los Angeles (New York: Random House, 1990) p. 4.
21. Stephen Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (New York: Riverhead Books, 2006), p. 245.
22. The swine flu that emerged in spring 2009 is a related strain, H1N1.
23. Richard Preston, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (New York: Random House, 1994), pp. 407-409.
24. Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases In a World Out of Balance (New York: Penguin, 1994).
25. and Garrett, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Public Health (New York: Hyperion, 2000).
26. Gina Kolata, Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused it All (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999, 2005).
27. John Barry, The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (New York: Penguin, 2004).
28. Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating The Future in Los Angeles (New York: Random House, 1990) p. 4.
29. See, for instance, the report coming out of the Surgeon General's 1985 Workshop on Violence and Public Health, available online at: (accessed 24 July 2009).
30. John de Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2001).
31. Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss, Affluenza: When Too Much Is Never Enough (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2005).
32. Oliver James, Affluenza: How to Be Successful and Stay Sane (London: Vermilion 2007).
33. Douglas Rushkoff, Media Virus! (New York: Ballantine, 1994).
34. Richard Brodie, Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme (Seattle: Integral Press, 1996).
35. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Little, Brown, 2000).
36. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Little, Brown, 2000), p. 7.
37. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Little, Brown, 2000), pp. 7-8.
38. For another version of same, consider the phenomenon of "memes" on the internet-chains of ideas that circulate primarily through blogs. The term "meme" was coined by Richard Dawkins 30 years ago in order to explain ideas as viruses that mutate and evolve through a Darwinian process of natural selection. "When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the same way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. " Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, 30th anniversary edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 192.
39. Brodie's Virus of the Mind attempts to popularize this "meme" understanding of the mind, and has recently been re-released (2009).
40. Gladwell, "The Tipping Point, " The New Yorker, June 3, 1996.
41. Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (New York: Little, Brown, 2005).
42. and Outliers: The Story of Success (New York: Little, Brown, 2009).
43. Rachel Donadio, "The Gladwell Effect, " The New York Times, February 5, 2006.
44. W.C. Kim and R. Mauborgne, "Tipping Point Leadership, " Harvard Business Review 81:4 (2003), pp. 60-69.
45. Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die (New York: Random House, 2007).
46. Seth Godin, Unleashing the Ideavirus (New York: Hyperion, 2001). Gladwell's success in the marketing literature seems to have come as a surprise. Though it is prominently displayed in business and marketing sections of bookstores, the publisher first classified The Tipping Point as "Current Affairs. " More recent editions have been classified as "Current Affairs/Business. " The Library of Congress catalogs it as "Social Psychology. "
47. The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the US.
48. On Michael Brown, see Chris Russill and Chad Lavin, "From Tipping Points to Meta-Crises: Management, Media, and Hurricane Katrina, " in Cedric Johnson (ed.), The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalist Culture and the Remaking of New Orleans (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming).
49. Rumsfeld talked about tipping points in his op-ed "One Surge Does Not Fit All, " The New York Times, November 22, 2008, and his press briefings of November 8, 2004 and February 3, 2005.
50. see (accessed November 29, 2008).
51. For climate change, see Chris Russill, "Tipping Point Forewarnings of Climate Change: Some Implications of An Emerging Trend, " Environmental Communication 2:2 (2008), pp. 133-153.
52. and Chris Russill and Zoe Nyssa, "The Tipping Point Trend in Climate Change Communication, " Global Environmental Change 19:3 (2009), pp. 336-344.
53. David Quammen, "Contagious Cancer, " Harper's, April 2008, p. 34 (emphasis in original).
54. See also Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors (New York: Picador, 1990), p. 3.
55. The story reached headlines again in May 2009, when Tasmanian Devils were declared endangered as a direct result of this cancer.
56. J. Eric Oliver, Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic (Oxford University Press, 2006).
57. See also Sander Gilman, Fat: A Cultural History of Obesity (London: Blackwell, 2008), chap. 1.
58. J. Eric Oliver, Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America's Obesity Epidemic (Oxford University Press, 2006), 41-42.
59. The maps are still updated annually and available on the CDC website: (accessed November 29, 2008).
60. Stedman's Medical Dictionary defines disease as "an interruption, cessation, or disorder of body function, system, or organ. " As Oliver points out, obesity does none of these things, though various treatments for obesity-most notably gastric bypass surgery-do all of them.
61. Robin Marantz Henig, "Fat Factors. " The New York Times Magazine, August 13, 2006.
62. See also Gilman, Fat, chap. 1.
63. Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years, " New England Journal of Medicine 357:4 (2007), pp. 370-379.
64. Quoted in Gina Kolata, "Study Says Obesity Can Be Contagious, " New York Times, July 25, 2007.
65. Dozens of bloggers, including Gladwell acolyte Seth Godin, pointed to this study as verification of Gladwell's theory. See: (accessed November 29, 2008).
66. Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years, " New England Journal of Medicine 357:4 (2007) p. 377.
67. Offering more evidence that this reflects a particular way of seeing the world, Christakis and Fowler subsequently made exactly the same argument about smoking.
68. see Christakis and Fowler, "The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network, " New England Journal of Medicine 358:21 (2008). In April 2009, Time magazine christened Christakis one of the world's most influential people, an honor bestowed on Gladwell in 2005.
69. In September 2009, Christakis and Fowler released Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (New York: Little, Brown, 2009) and were the focus of a New York Times Magazine.
70. Cover story by Clive Thompson, "Are Your Friends Making You Fat?" (The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 2009).
71. Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar Strauss, and Giroux, 1999), pp. xi-xv.
72. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 136.
73. Friedman is actually quoting USA Today when he uses the word "virus, " but he refers to "transmission mechanisms" throughout the passage.
74. David Brooks, "Globalism Goes Viral, " The New York Times, April 27, 2009.
75. On biopolitics, see especially Roberto Esposito, Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy (University of Minnesota Press, 2008).
76. Nikolas Rose, The Politics of Life Itself (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007).
77. Jan Wright and Valerie Harwood (eds), Biopolitics and the "Obesity Epidemic" (New York: Routledge, 2009).
78. and Miguel Vatter, "Biopolitics: From Surplus Value to Surplus Life, " Theory & Event 12:2 (2009).
79. Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, "The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years, " New England Journal of Medicine 357:4 (2007) p. 377.
80. Offering more evidence that this reflects a particular way of seeing the world, Christakis and Fowler subsequently made exactly the same argument about smoking.
81. see Christakis and Fowler, "The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network, " New England Journal of Medicine 358:21 (2008). In April 2009, Time magazine christened Christakis one of the world's most influential people, an honor bestowed on Gladwell in 2005.
82. In September 2009, Christakis and Fowler released Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives (New York: Little, Brown, 2009) and were the focus of a New York Times Magazine.
83. Cover story by Clive Thompson, "Are Your Friends Making You Fat?" (The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 2009).
84. Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar Strauss, and Giroux, 1999), pp. xi-xv.
85. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 136.
86. Friedman is actually quoting USA Today when he uses the word "virus, " but he refers to "transmission mechanisms" throughout the passage.
87. David Brooks, "Globalism Goes Viral, " The New York Times, April 27, 2009.
88. On biopolitics, see especially Roberto Esposito, Bios: Biopolitics and Philosophy (University of Minnesota Press, 2008).
89. Nikolas Rose, The Politics of Life Itself (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007).
90. Jan Wright and Valerie Harwood (eds), Biopolitics and the "Obesity Epidemic" (New York: Routledge, 2009).
91. and Miguel Vatter, "Biopolitics: From Surplus Value to Surplus Life, " Theory & Event 12:2 (2009).
92. Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008), chap. 1.
93. Howard Markel, Lawrence Gostin, and David Fidler, "Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: An Isolation Order, Public Health Powers, and a Global Crisis, " Journal of the American Medical Association 298:1 (2007), pp. 83-86.
94. Richard Holbrooke and Laurie Garrett, "'Sovereignty' That Risks Global Health, " The Washington Post, August 10, 2008.
95. Stephen Johnson, The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic-and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World (New York: Riverhead Books, 2006).
96. Nikolas Rose, The Politics of Life Itself (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), chap. 2.
97. (accessed July 24, 2009).
98. (accessed July 24, 2009).
99. See Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, "Officials Say US Wiretaps Exceeded Law, " The New York Times, April 15, 2009.
100. Solomon Moore, "FBI and States Vastly Expand DNA Databases, " The New York Times, April 18, 2009.
101. Andrew Szasz, Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007).
102. Andrew Szasz, Shopping Our Way to Safety: How We Changed from Protecting the Environment to Protecting Ourselves (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), p. 5.
103. Richard Preston, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (New York: Random House, 1994), p. 207.
104. Sheldon Ungar, "Bringing the Issue Back In: Comparing the Marketability of the Ozone Hole and Global Warming, " Social Problems 45: 4 (1998), pp. 510-527.
105. Sylvia Noble Tesh, Hidden Arguments: Political Ideology and Disease Prevention Policy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1988), pp. 11-16.
106. Manfred Steger, The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 6-10.
107. Nikolas Rose, The Politics of Life Itself (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007), 248-251.
108. Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World (New York: Random House, 2003).
109. Paul Farmer, Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 263.
110. Paul Farmer, Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 277.
111. Paul Farmer, Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), p. 15.
112. Erni, "Epidemic Imaginary. "
113. John Nguyet Erni, "Global AIDS, IT, and Critical Humanism: Reframing International Health Communication, " in Mehdi Semati (ed.), New Frontiers in International Communication Theory (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), p. 74.
114. See, for example, Phil Brown and Edwin Mikkelsen, No Safe Place: Toxic Waste, Leukemia, and Community Action (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997).
115. Deborah Wallace and Rodrick Wallace, A Plague On Your Houses: How New York was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled (New York: Verso, 1998).
116. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (New York: Little, Brown, 2000), p. 282.
117. Morton Grodzins, "Metropolitan Segregation. " Scientific American 197: 4 (October 1957) pp. 33-41.
118. and The Metropolitan Area As Racial Problem (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1958).
119. See also Thomas Schelling, "Dynamic Models of Segregation, " Journal of Mathematical Sociology 1: 2 (1971) pp. 143-186.
120. and Micromotives and Macrobehavior (New York: WW Norton & Co, 1978), pp. 91-102.
121. Morton Grodzins, "Metropolitan Segregation. " Scientific American 197: 4 (October 1957) pp. 33-41.
122. and The Metropolitan Area As Racial Problem (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1958), p. 1.
123. It is surely noteworthy that Schelling's research was produced for Rand, a think-tank known for producing the same ideologically driven arguments for disinvestment in social infrastructures that significantly exacerbated various social and medical epidemics in New York City, from tuberculosis to AIDS to alcoholism (see Deborah Wallace and Rodrick Wallace, A Plague On Your Houses: How New York was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled (New York: Verso, 1998).).
124. Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008), chap. 3.
125. Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008), p. 116.
126. Priscilla Wald, Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008), p. 119.
127. Manfred Steger, The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 14.
128. Manfred Steger, The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 9-12.
129. See especially Garrett, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Public Health (New York: Hyperion, 2000).