SOC 445 Lecture 6: 10/3
17 Oct 2018
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Lecture 10/3
I. Diagnosis are social constructs
A. This means that somebody “worked” to create the categories
1. e.g., diagnosis = collective achievements
2. Brown → socio-political objects
a) Jutel - “socially contingent”
3. Conrad: diagnostic advocacy
a) The idea that somebody/something have to
be an advocate for these categories [the
diagnosis]
4. Interest politics
a) The phenomenon in the field of deviance is
when individuals/groups are working to
construct something, that they are doing it
for their own interest
b) The construction of categories (of deviance)
that buttress/support group interest
(1) Symbolic
(2) Real/tangible material
c) Interest politics: the construction of
categories gives those groups (constructing
it) the authority for that “turf”, thus raising
their prestige, and usually earning money
from it.
B. Medicalization is not the same thing as diagnosis
1. Real diagnosis transform medicalization processes
2. Reification of Dx - In Marxism, reification is the
process by which social relations are perceived as
inherent attributes of the people involved in them, or
attributes of some product of the relation, such as a
traded commodity.
a) This can be a good thing, i.e., PTSD
b) The more reified these things get, the harder
it becomes to remember that they are
constructs
II. Shifts on medicine
A. Conrad, 1980s - 1990s…
1. Decrease in medical authority
2. Health policy:
a) Access → cost containment → ??
3. The rise of managed care - people other than
immediate care takers are making decisions about
your course of care
4. New areas of medical knowledge
5. Increased power and relevance of pharmaceutical
companies
6. Biotech industry
7. Medical consumerism
8. Increased marketing of medical knowledge
9. Health social movements
B. FDAMA, 1997
1. Direct consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals
2. Decreased information regarding complete risks in
the advertisement itself
3. Decreased restrictions regarding off-label
information to medical professionals
4. Educational broadcasts
III. Post prozac era
→ Brown, 1990; these social products have
political consequences
→ they are describing the same concepts but
highlight different aspects (good for
synthesizing ideas)
→ making an argument on behalf of the
category
→ concept taking by Conrad and Schneider
- Usually these interest politics are
created to serve/help other interests
- Can facilitate medical research
→ prestige (as an individual)
→ money, authority (“turf”, controlling an
area)
→ you can have medicalization w/o diagnosis,
you can not have diagnosis without
medicalization
- This process of making a medical
category seem more and more
objectively real
- This means that society can give them
more power than they deserve
} Some of these shifts interact with each other,
some of these shifts have intensified
- There is a higher focus on cost of care
over actual care
- Insurance is a third party pay system
that pays for your care
→ you could make diagnosis b/c of
technology
→ decreases medical authority
Document Summary
Brown, 1990; these social products have political consequences. They are describing the same concepts but highlight different aspects (good for synthesizing ideas) Making an argument on behalf of the category. Usually these interest politics are created to serve/help other interests. You can have medicalization w/o diagnosis, you can not have diagnosis without medicalization. This process of making a medical: this can be a good thing, i. e. , ptsd, the more reified these things get, the harder it becomes to remember that they are constructs category seem more and more objectively real. This means that society can give them more power than they deserve. } some of these shifts interact with each other, some of these shifts have intensified. There is a higher focus on cost of care over actual care. Insurance is a third party pay system that pays for your care. You could make diagnosis b/c of technology.
