The Social Construction of Repetition Strain Injury

Abstract

This paper examines the politics of the RSI debate, and more particularly, the ideologies which underpin both sides. It goes on to argue that the intervention into the debate of social scientists with a social construction perspective has political implications. While the social construction position, in prin ciple, is consistent with a view of RSI as injury, in practice it has been closely aligned with the view of RSI as neurosis and thus with the interests of insurers seeking to avoid liability for compensation.