IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v61y2005i5p1045-1058.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decolonization and the movement for institutionalization of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong: a political process perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Chiu, Stephen W.K.
  • Ko, Lisanne S.F.
  • Lee, Rance P.L.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the question of why the social and political acceptance of Chinese medicine has grown in the former British colony of Hong Kong since the late 1980s. To supplement the conventional explanations for the institutionalization of alternative medicines, we propose a political process perspective that highlights the effects of political changes amidst the decolonization process in Hong Kong. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the weakening of the political position of the established elite, the opening up of political space for previously excluded groups, and the competition for support among the new political elite, all stimulated the indigenous Chinese medicine organizations to mobilize for the institutionalization of Chinese medicine. By the mid-1990s academics from leading tertiary institutions began to take over the leadership of the movement and in doing so carried it to a higher level. In the conclusion, we briefly consider the implications of this movement for the future development of alternative medicine in Hong Kong and other societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiu, Stephen W.K. & Ko, Lisanne S.F. & Lee, Rance P.L., 2005. "Decolonization and the movement for institutionalization of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong: a political process perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 1045-1058, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:61:y:2005:i:5:p:1045-1058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(05)00025-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee, Rance P. L., 1982. "Comparative studies of health care systems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 629-642, January.
    2. Chi, Chunhuei, 1994. "Integrating traditional medicine into modern health care systems: Examining the role of Chinese medicine in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 307-321, August.
    3. Gauld, Robin D. C., 1998. "A survey of the Hong Kong health sector: Past, present and future," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(7), pages 927-939, October.
    4. Nyamwaya, David, 1987. "A case study of the interaction between indigenous and Western medicine among the Pokot of Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1277-1287, January.
    5. Cho, Hyo-Je, 2000. "Traditional medicine, professional monopoly and structural interests: a Korean case," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 123-135, January.
    6. Lupton, Deborah, 1997. "Consumerism, reflexivity and the medical encounter," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 373-381, August.
    7. Kelner, Merrijoy & Wellman, Beverly, 1997. "Health care and consumer choice: Medical and alternative therapies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 203-212, July.
    8. Quah, Stella R., 2003. "Traditional healing systems and the ethos of science," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(10), pages 1997-2012, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chung, Vincent C.H. & Hillier, Sheila & Lau, Chun Hong & Wong, Samuel Y.S. & Yeoh, Eng Kiong & Griffiths, Sian M., 2011. "Referral to and attitude towards traditional Chinese medicine amongst western medical doctors in postcolonial Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 247-255, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chung, Vincent C.H. & Hillier, Sheila & Lau, Chun Hong & Wong, Samuel Y.S. & Yeoh, Eng Kiong & Griffiths, Sian M., 2011. "Referral to and attitude towards traditional Chinese medicine amongst western medical doctors in postcolonial Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 247-255, January.
    2. Epstein, Steven, 2016. "The politics of health mobilization in the United States: The promise and pitfalls of “disease constituencies”," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 246-254.
    3. Steven Yen & Hung-Hao Chang & Tsui-Fang Lin, 2013. "Out-of-pocket expenditures on traditional and Western medicine in Taiwan," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(4), pages 583-592, August.
    4. Dodds, Sarah & Bulmer, Sandy & Murphy, Andrew, 2014. "Consumer value in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) health care services," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 218-229.
    5. Michael S. Goldstein, 2002. "The Emerging Socioeconomic and Political Support for Alternative Medicine in the United States," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 583(1), pages 44-63, September.
    6. Setti Rais Ali & Paul Dourgnon & Lise Rochaix, 2018. "Social Capital or Education: What Matters Most to Cut Time to Diagnosis?," Working Papers halshs-01703170, HAL.
    7. Éva Rásky & Willibald-Julius Stronegger & Wolfgang Freidl, 1999. "Nutzung unkonventioneller Heilverfahren bei Krebserkrankungen," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 44(1), pages 22-29, January.
    8. Barry, Christine Ann, 2006. "The role of evidence in alternative medicine: Contrasting biomedical and anthropological approaches," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2646-2657, June.
    9. Stefan Stremersch & Vardit Landsman & Sriram Venkataraman, 2013. "The Relationship Between DTCA, Drug Requests, and Prescriptions: Uncovering Variation in Specialty and Space," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 89-110, June.
    10. Dyer, Thomas Anthony & Owens, Janine & Robinson, Peter Glenn, 2014. "The acceptability of care delegation in skill-mix: The salience of trust," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 170-178.
    11. Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Joanna Poczta, 2018. "Running as a Form of Therapy Socio-Psychological Functions of Mass Running Events for Men and Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-15, October.
    12. Josyula, K. Lakshmi & Sheikh, Kabir & Nambiar, Devaki & Narayan, Venkatesh V. & Sathyanarayana, T.N. & Porter, John D.H., 2016. "“Getting the water-carrier to light the lamps”: Discrepant role perceptions of traditional, complementary, and alternative medical practitioners in government health facilities in India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 214-222.
    13. Shih, Shu-Fang & Lew-Ting, Chih-Yin & Chang, Hsing-Yi & Kuo, Ken N., 2008. "Insurance covered and non-covered complementary and alternative medicine utilisation among adults in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1183-1189, October.
    14. Karolin Becker & Peter Zweifel, 2008. "Age and Choice in Health Insurance," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 1(1), pages 27-40, January.
    15. Jaswant Guzder & Meenakshi Krishna, 2005. "Mind the Gap," Psychology and Developing Societies, , vol. 17(2), pages 121-138, September.
    16. Waldram, James B. & Hatala, Andrew R., 2015. "Latent and manifest empiricism in Q'eqchi' Maya healing: A case study of HIV/AIDS," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 9-16.
    17. Ebeling, Mary, 2011. "'Get with the Program!': Pharmaceutical marketing, symptom checklists and self-diagnosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 825-832, September.
    18. Pedersen, Inge Kryger & Baarts, Charlotte, 2010. "'Fantastic hands' - But no evidence: The construction of expertise by users of CAM," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(6), pages 1068-1075, September.
    19. Copelton, Denise A. & Valle, Giuseppina, 2009. ""You don't need a prescription to go gluten-free": The scientific self-diagnosis of celiac disease," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 623-631, August.
    20. Greenfield, Geva & Pliskin, Joseph S. & Feder-Bubis, Paula & Wientroub, Shlomo & Davidovitch, Nadav, 2012. "Patient–physician relationships in second opinion encounters – The physicians’ perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(7), pages 1202-1212.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:61:y:2005:i:5:p:1045-1058. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.