Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body in Western Societies

by Deborah Lupton

The Second Edition of Medicine as Culture provides a broad overview of the way medicine is experienced, perceived and socially constructed in western societies. Drawing on the tradition of the sociology of health and illness, Deborah Lupton directs readers to an understanding of medicine, health care, illness and disease from a sociocultural perspective. At a time of increasing disillusionment with scientific medicine and the mythology of the beneficent, god-like physician, there is also - paradoxically - a growing dependence on biomedicine to provide the answers to social as well as medical problems. This book illuminates why attitudes to medicine are characterized by such strong paradoxes, and why issues of disease, illness and the medical encounter are surrounded by controversy, conflict, power struggles and emotion. In this second edition, each chapter has been extensively updated to take account of recent research and theoretical developments. New material has been added on postmodernist theory; the male body; and the new genetics. As well as reviewing and critiquing the dominant theoretical approaches in the sociology of health and illness, Medicine as Culture, Second Edition also includes the following key · socio-cultural analysis of health, illness and medicine · elite and media representations of illness · the body in medicine · the language and visual imagery of medicine, illness and disease · and feminist perspectives Integrating cultural studies, social history and contemporary theories of the body, Medicine as Culture , Second Edition will be essential reading for students and academics in the sociology of health and illness, the sociology of consumption and everyday life, medical anthropology, the history of medicine, health communication, women's studies, nursing studies and cultural studies.

Genres: Sociology, Anthropology, Health, Medicine, Nonfiction, Health Care, Science

202 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 1994

Reviews

[Rin]

Not exactly the kind of book of medicine and culture I was looking for. While a tad insightful, the book talks about things in the sterile, pretentious way that sociologists do. As though they are somehow biased and scientific by using academic words. Honestly, this book screams "Tumblr" to me. It's one of those books that, if somehow exposed to social media culture, would be used as the pseudo-academecian's bible. That's not to discredit anything written, but it's just to tell you the type of book it is.

I was looking for a book that was more comparative in nature. I think I could have stomached the sterile criticisms then. However, even then, I don't think I'd be able to stand the pretentious nitpicking of a system that has kept millions of people alive. I don't exactly understand what the aim was. To talk about western medical researchers, healthcare allies and patients like zoo animals? I dunno. I wish it were more flowery and less like a dissertation or something else that only a professor could love.

I clearly didn't enjoy this book.


I also want to add that I read the third addition which was published in 2012.

[Tracie Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, but not as in-depth as I would've liked. Still a decent introduction to this kind of thought.

[Bay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive research - Lupton weaves together multiple understandings of health, illness, and medicine from diverse disciplines. Read for my Rhetoric of Health & Medicine class.