Social lives of medicines /
Whyte, Susan Reynolds,
Social lives of medicines / Susan Reynolds Whyte, Sjaak van der Geest, Anita Hardon. - viii, 200 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. - Cambridge studies in medical anthropology ; 10 . - Cambridge studies in medical anthropology ; 10. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Part I. Introduction: 1. An anthropology of materia medica -- Part II. The Consumers: 2. Mothers and children: the efficacies of drugs -- 3. Villagers and local remedies: the symbolic nature of medicines -- 4. Women in distress: medicines for control -- 5. Sceptical consumers: doubts about medicines -- Part III. The Providers: 6. Drug vendors and their market: the commodification of health -- 7. Pharmacists as doctors: bridging the sectors of health care -- 8. Injectionists: the attraction of technology -- 9. Prescribing physicians: medicines as communication -- Part IV. The Strategists: 10. Manufacturers: scientific claims, commercial aims -- 11. Health planners: making and contesting drug policy -- Part V. Conclusion: 12. Anthropologists and the sociality of medicines -- -- Introduction -- An anthropology of materia medica -- The consumers -- Mothers and children: the efficacies of drugs -- Villagers and local remedies: the symbolic nature of medicines -- Women in distress: medicines for control -- Sceptical consumers: doubts about medicines -- The providers -- Drug vendors and their market: the commodification of health -- Pharmacists as doctors: bridging the sectors of health care -- Injectionists: the attraction of technology -- Prescribing physicians: medicines as communication -- The strategists -- Manufacturers: scientific claims, commercial aims -- Health planners: making and contesting drug policy -- Conclusion -- Anthropologists and the sociality of medicines. I. 1. II. 2. 3. 4. 5. III. 6. 7. 8. 9. IV. 10. 11. V. 12.
"Medicines are the core of treatment in biomedicine, as in many other medical traditions. As material things, they have social as well as pharmacological lives, with people and between people. They are tokens of healing and hope, as well as valuable commodities. Each chapter of this book shows drugs in the hands of particular actors: mothers in Manila, villagers in Burkina Faso, women in the Netherlands, consumers in London, market traders in Cameroon, pharmacists in Mexico, injectionists in Uganda, doctors in Sri Lanka, industrialists in India, and policymakers in Geneva. Each example is used to explore a different problem in the study of medicines, such as social efficacy, experiences of control, skepticism and cultural politics, commodification of health, the attraction of technology and the marketing of images and values. The book shows how anthropologists deal with the sociality of medicines, through their ethnography, their theorizing, and their uses of knowledge."--Publisher description.
0521800250 9780521800259 0521804698 9780521804691
2002031205
Materia medica--Social aspects
Medical anthropology
Medical care
Commerce.
Attitude to Health--ethnology
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Social Environment
RS153 / .W496 2002
306.461
Social lives of medicines / Susan Reynolds Whyte, Sjaak van der Geest, Anita Hardon. - viii, 200 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. - Cambridge studies in medical anthropology ; 10 . - Cambridge studies in medical anthropology ; 10. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Part I. Introduction: 1. An anthropology of materia medica -- Part II. The Consumers: 2. Mothers and children: the efficacies of drugs -- 3. Villagers and local remedies: the symbolic nature of medicines -- 4. Women in distress: medicines for control -- 5. Sceptical consumers: doubts about medicines -- Part III. The Providers: 6. Drug vendors and their market: the commodification of health -- 7. Pharmacists as doctors: bridging the sectors of health care -- 8. Injectionists: the attraction of technology -- 9. Prescribing physicians: medicines as communication -- Part IV. The Strategists: 10. Manufacturers: scientific claims, commercial aims -- 11. Health planners: making and contesting drug policy -- Part V. Conclusion: 12. Anthropologists and the sociality of medicines -- -- Introduction -- An anthropology of materia medica -- The consumers -- Mothers and children: the efficacies of drugs -- Villagers and local remedies: the symbolic nature of medicines -- Women in distress: medicines for control -- Sceptical consumers: doubts about medicines -- The providers -- Drug vendors and their market: the commodification of health -- Pharmacists as doctors: bridging the sectors of health care -- Injectionists: the attraction of technology -- Prescribing physicians: medicines as communication -- The strategists -- Manufacturers: scientific claims, commercial aims -- Health planners: making and contesting drug policy -- Conclusion -- Anthropologists and the sociality of medicines. I. 1. II. 2. 3. 4. 5. III. 6. 7. 8. 9. IV. 10. 11. V. 12.
"Medicines are the core of treatment in biomedicine, as in many other medical traditions. As material things, they have social as well as pharmacological lives, with people and between people. They are tokens of healing and hope, as well as valuable commodities. Each chapter of this book shows drugs in the hands of particular actors: mothers in Manila, villagers in Burkina Faso, women in the Netherlands, consumers in London, market traders in Cameroon, pharmacists in Mexico, injectionists in Uganda, doctors in Sri Lanka, industrialists in India, and policymakers in Geneva. Each example is used to explore a different problem in the study of medicines, such as social efficacy, experiences of control, skepticism and cultural politics, commodification of health, the attraction of technology and the marketing of images and values. The book shows how anthropologists deal with the sociality of medicines, through their ethnography, their theorizing, and their uses of knowledge."--Publisher description.
0521800250 9780521800259 0521804698 9780521804691
2002031205
Materia medica--Social aspects
Medical anthropology
Medical care
Commerce.
Attitude to Health--ethnology
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Social Environment
RS153 / .W496 2002
306.461