ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This article explores the possibility and conditions for nonviolent coexistence with mentally-challenged people in society. Social coexistence means not merely tolerance or assimilation, but finding ways to live together while recognizing differences. This article centers its discussion on the question of whether mentally-challenged people can be recognized as citizens in our society, arguing that securing their right to exist in public spaces is key. Focusing on incidents labeled ‘subway villains,’ it critically analyzes how the public and media stigmatize people with supposedly mental problem and exclude the violators of social rules. The medicalization of mental illness reifies violation of social rules, thereby justifying social control over those with mental illness. Drawing on insights from Wittgenstein, Goffman, and Sass, it points out that the very belief that mental illness is incomprehensible is itself a social belief. As long as this belief remains unchanged, coexistence with the mentally ill will inevitably face difficulties. In conclusion, it proposes that the possibility of understanding mental illness must begin with changing the existing belief—that is, the way of life—that views them as incomprehensible beings. Only then can true social coexistence with mentally-challeged people become possible.

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