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Prediabetes in practice: Examining the stratified medicalization of diabetes prevention

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  • Vasquez, Emily

Abstract

Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic data examining the diagnosis and treatment of prediabetes in three socioeconomically distinct clinics, this paper illuminates how this medicalized approach to diabetes prevention amplifies inequities in care across lines of class-based and racialized difference. While all three clinics adhere to a standard definition of the predisease, prediabetes is performed in markedly different ways across these clinics, patterned by their diverse institutional structures and assumptions about their patient populations. This has unequal consequences for patients' understandings of their bodies and their health futures, and patients diagnosed with prediabetes are subject to distinct forms of discipline, empowerment, and even abandonment.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasquez, Emily, 2025. "Prediabetes in practice: Examining the stratified medicalization of diabetes prevention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 384(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:384:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625008445
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118513
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:idb:brikps:32898 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Bell, Ann V., 2016. "The margins of medicalization: Diversity and context through the case of infertility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 39-46.
    3. Fish, Rachel Elizabeth, 2022. "Stratified medicalization of schooling difficulties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    4. Jutel, Annemarie & Nettleton, Sarah, 2011. "Towards a sociology of diagnosis: Reflections and opportunities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(6), pages 793-800, September.
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