“Trajectory” as a Basic Theoretical Concept for Analyzing Suffering and Disorderly Social Processes

Abstract

The concept of “trajectory” has been of central importance in Strauss’s research during the last two decades. It has provided a theoretical framework for several publications that dealt with the complicated relationship between the development of an illness and the various types of work done to “manage” that illness. Since the publication of Time for Dying ( Glaser and Strauss 1968 ), many useful categories have been constructed that shed light on different aspects and phases of such processes. At the same time, the definition of the term trajectory itself has become more comprehensive and complex. While the category “dying trajectories” (as used in Time for Dying) denoted “perceived courses of dying rather than the actual courses,” we find it defined in Social Organization of Medical Work as “not only the physiological unfolding of a patient’s disease but the total organization of work done over that course, plus the impact on those involved with that work and its organization” ( Strauss et al. 1985 , p. 8, emphasis added).

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