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Medicalization of Social Problems

Ashley Frawley Orcid Logo

Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine

Swansea University Author: Ashley Frawley Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_74-1

Abstract

Medicalization, a key concept in sociology, refers to the process by which personal and social phenomena are increasingly understood in medical terms. Constructionist approaches to social problems have made considerable use of the medicalization thesis to examine the ways medical language is used to...

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Published in: Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine
Published: 2015
Online Access: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_74-1
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa26770
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Abstract: Medicalization, a key concept in sociology, refers to the process by which personal and social phenomena are increasingly understood in medical terms. Constructionist approaches to social problems have made considerable use of the medicalization thesis to examine the ways medical language is used to describe a wide variety of social problems. This chapter describes the medicalization process, use of the concept in social problems constructionist research, and causes and contexts of the ascendance of medical language in social problem rhetoric. The broader social benefits and consequences of increasing medicalization of social problems are also discussed.
Keywords: medicalization, social problems, rhetoric, constructionism
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
End Page: 18