Consumer desire and medical practice

Abstract

This paper presents the construct of “medicalism” — a widespread mind set for defining and dealing with troubles — as a theory of how health service provision interacts with the desires of consumers. Medicalism has three components: individuation, externalization, and just pain. In concert this sets up a situation where explanation may be sought more fervently than cure. Thus, failure, rather than success, assures escalating demand for health services. This suggests thinking about how health care fits into the full array of defining and dealing with troubles. Medicine and war can be seen as two sides of the same coin, processes that individuate, and externalize troubles while justifying pain or expense. Escalating health care costs can then be seen as related to the refusal or inability to deal with problems in other spheres. Health care becomes a dumping ground for a vast range of social problems ranging from poverty to sexual assault. In so doing, health care is forced to do less of what it does well and more of what it does badly.

Citation

Hanson, B. (2001), "Consumer desire and medical practice", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Changing Consumers and Changing Technology in Health Care and Health Care Delivery (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 45-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0275-4959(01)80006-5