A Hysteria of Modern Times: Electromagnetic Sensitivity

Electromagnetic Sensitivity, also known as microwave sickness or a wifi allergy, is a claimed sensitivity to electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic sensitivity has no scientific backing and is not recognised as a medical condition. Those suffering from Electromagnetic Sensitivity….

Essay Topic: Research and write about a specific, past or present, instance of mass behavior of the type studied in this course (mobs. manias, mass illusions or delusions, hysterical epidemics or mass hysteria) employing psychoanalytic concepts in order to move beyond the manifest toward the latent motives and mechanisms involved.

1. Remember you are writing, not for the instructor, but for the intelligent lay person who has not taken this course.

Define all key terms.
2. Lectures are designed as a guide to your own research. Essays which merely regurgitate lecture notes will not be

accepted. Do not quote or refer to lectures in your essays; work with relevant texts instead.
3. Form, style, syntax, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., are as important as the content of your essay.

4. The “in text” reference system is to be used.

7. Please use complete justification of the text (as distinct from left justification).

8. In your first reference to a book provide in brackets its year of first publication. As long as you continue to refer to

this book you need not repeat the bracketed reference; when you turn to a different book by this author, or a book by

another author, provide the bracketed date.

9. In your text refer to dates of first publication if possible. In your bibliography do the same after the author’s name, but

include the year of publication of the edition you are using at the end of the reference.

10. Do not write excessively long paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one main idea. When you shift to another

idea start a new paragraph.

11. Do not sacrifice clarity in an attempt to write elegantly.

12. Keep the use of online resources for essays to an absolute minimum. Read books and journal articles. Do not quote

or make reference to Wikipedia as it is not a valid academic resource, though it may refer you to valid academic

sources which may be referenced.

Solution Preview

In the 1950s, multiple clinics were set up in Moscow, other cities in the Soviet Union and along Eastern Europe. The establishment of the hospitals was done with the primary purpose of studying and treating thousands of people who claimed to be suffering from an occupational disease which was referred to radio wave disease. The patients were workers who worked in companies that manufactured the microwave equipment, TV and radio stations, and radar facilities. Some of the patients operated in organizations which dealt with radio frequency and technology companies which had been established in the middle of World War II (Fenyves, 1991).

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