Mapping the social studies of ADHD: From medicalization theory to neurodiversity in the digital age, and future directions

The past 30 years have seen significant changes in how Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is understood, with public discourse and prevalence rates reaching an all-time high. While its evolution in the U.S. is well documented, recent global and digital shifts prompt a reexamination of ADHD research. The significance of this article is that it maps and analyzes, for the first time, an extensive and heterogeneous body of scholarship, spanning the sociology and anthropology of health and mental health; science, technology, media, and disability studies; and medical humanities, to propose the definition of a new subfield of "social studies of ADHD." By synthesizing key conceptual developments, social theories, and empirical findings therein, our article fills in a substantive gap in the literature, identifies main analytical frameworks, and outlines future research directions. We first trace the history of ADHD diagnosis and the DSM, rendered as an exemplary case of medicalization-as both theory and process-in the sociological literature since the mid-1970s. Second, we examine debates on the globalization of ADHD diagnosis and treatment to illuminate new areas of study and cross-national comparison. Third, we discuss alternative models and emergent perspectives on demedicalization, decolonial approaches, and the neurodiversity paradigm, which operates both as a social scientific concept and a movement. We then synthesize the latest research on the digital health turn to consider how emergent technologies and online platforms are reconfiguring ADHD knowledge, subjectivity, and sociality. To conclude, we use our critical analysis as a launchpad for setting a future interdisciplinary agenda for ADHD research in three areas that are relevant to the social study of health, illness, and medicine more widely: (1) digital and more-than-human perspectives on attention and care; (2) ethnography and phenomenology of ADHD affect and embodiment; and (3) intersectional, decolonial, and community research approaches.