Loriol, Marc · Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology · 2017 · DOI
This study examines fatigue from a social perspective, looking at how people's work and living conditions, social environment, and cultural beliefs affect their experience of exhaustion. Rather than treating fatigue only as a medical problem, the authors explore how different groups in society experience and understand tiredness differently, and how societal expectations about work and productivity shape whether someone feels appropriately tired or dangerously exhausted.
This work is important for ME/CFS patients and researchers because it highlights that fatigue cannot be understood purely through a biomedical lens—social factors, inequality, and cultural context shape both the experience and interpretation of chronic exhaustion. Understanding these broader social dimensions may help reduce stigma and improve how healthcare systems recognize that ME/CFS patients' fatigue exists within complex social realities that can amplify or diminish symptoms.
This study does not establish causality or provide empirical data on ME/CFS specifically; it is a theoretical and historical review rather than an epidemiological or clinical trial. It does not prove that social factors alone cause ME/CFS, nor does it test specific biomedical hypotheses about the disease mechanism. The abstract does not provide quantitative evidence directly comparing fatigue rates across social groups.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Loriol, Marc (2017). A sociological stance on fatigue and tiredness: Social inequalities, norms and representations.. Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2016.12.001
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-loriol-2017-sociological-stance,
author = {Loriol, Marc},
title = {A sociological stance on fatigue and tiredness: Social inequalities, norms and representations.},
journal = {Neurophysiologie clinique = Clinical neurophysiology},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1016/j.neucli.2016.12.001},
note = {PubMed: 28162843},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loriol-2017-sociological-stance},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/loriol-2017-sociological-stance
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