MEDICALISATION THESIS

Medicalisation Thesis



The Medicalisation Thesis by Conrad and Schneider

Summary

Health sociologists work from the concept of medicalisation to interpret the social processes by which non-pathological problems come to be understood and treated as medical conditions. Where treatment for these conditions involves the prescription of medication, the term pharmaceuticalisation suggests that medicalisation is a not a pejorative term because it does not indicate whether a phenomenon is 'really' a medical problem or not. However, others view medicalisation as a negative process, by which problems that are 'really' social in origin, or related to normal ageing processes such as male pattern baldness are inappropriately defined as medical problems. By creating new medical conditions such as female sexual dysfunction companies can create large markets in developed countries for new treatments, or can expand markets for previously existing products.

For disease-mongering theorists, the pharmaceutical industry is the main driver of medicalisation, whereas for Conrad, drivers also include a range of groups such as patient groups (Oakley, 1980, pp 56). He argues, for example, that in the case of alcoholism, patient groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous were the key proponents of medicalisation.Both views point to the importance of understanding the structural aspects of medicalisation, particularly the power that both the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies exert to shape understandings of what should or needs to be treated. However, while emphasis is often placed on the force of capitalist entrepreneurship which underpins the development and sale of medications, it is equally important to understand the socio-cultural factors that might assist or impede this process.

There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of medication consumed in the Western world in the last few decades Women and the elderly are overrepresented in studies showing high levels of medication use. A significant proportion of medication use is for ...