Susan Reynolds Whyte (University of Copenhagen), Sjaak van der Geest (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Anita Hardon (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Social Lives of Medicines

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Anthropologists show that medicines are more than chemical substances with medical effects. They have social lives because they move between people; they carry meaning and offer possibilities for communication and control. As commodities they are objects of intense commercial and political interest. Using examples from five continents, this book takes up central problems in the study of medicines including social efficacy, symbolism, and commodification. It provides a readable and thought provoking introduction to current anthropological research on medicines in society.

Produktdetails

• Cambridge Studies in Medical Anthropology
• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 212
• Erscheinungstermin: 18. April 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm
• Gewicht: 330g
• ISBN-13: 9780521804691
• ISBN-10: 0521804698
• Artikelnr.: 21662005

Autorenporträt

Susan Reynolds Whyte is Professor at the Institute of Anthropology of the University of Copenhagen.

Inhaltsangabe

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.