The Construction of Medical Knowledge

1
The Construction of Medical Knowledge
2
Medical Knowledge

• Theory, power and knowledge are all closely
  connected.
• What is disease and who has the power to define
  disease?
• Eg. Anorexia Nervosa
• Constructionism- things are socially produced not
  discovered.
• Assumes that all facts are social facts in the
  sense that communities produce them.

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Medical knowledge cont...

• Epistemology- the theory of knowledge.
• Empiricism and naturalistic empiricism in terms
  of our suspicions and claims
• Social constructionism draws attention to how
  people describe events and experiences- narrative
  accounts.
• The notion that social reality is a narrative
  text has become a powerful and persuasive
  paradigm.
• The debate on social constructionism

4
Criticisms and arguments

• Cannot assume that social constructionism
  represents a single doctrine.
• An attack on constructionism results in
  essentialism?
• Essentialism-
• The construction of the body and the
  phenomenology of embodiment

5
Criticisms cont...

• Constructionism is a cultural theory- no
  convincing answers for medical sociology.
• Social constructionism has shock value-
  liberation from stigmatization.

6
politics

• Should we continue to use Social constructionism?
  Is there any value?
• One important reasons for it the nature of the
  medical practice itself.
• Medical facts- using nosology or the theory of
  classification of diseases.
• The doctor being active in the interpretation of
  disease and patient lives.
• Eg. PMS and Menopause

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Gender and the body

• The sociology of the body or the gendered nature
  of power.
• Challenging the views of sexuality of Freud-
  celebration of female difference.
• The politics of sexual difference- Margaret Mead
• Sexuality has a history and has been constructed
  in not only medicine but other areas.
• The issue of menopause within feminist critique.
• Mens health as being constructed also.

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Foucault and the body

• Two specific contributions
• 1. An analysis of power
• 2. An understanding of the modern self.
• He challenged the Marxist conceptions of power
  and viewed power relationships operating a micro
  levels.
• The embodiment of power
• The disciplinary actions of society
• The analysis of the relationships between power
  and knowledge.

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Foucault and the body cont...

• Panoptic principles of surveillance
• Medicalization of society exists now within a new
  framework.
• The study of medicine as part of a larger
  intellectual program.
• The body as a crucial topic