IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v6y2002i4p65-80.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Myth of Medical Pluralism: A Critical Realist Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Gil-Soo Han

Abstract

It is widely assumed that there is a high level of medical pluralism in contemporary society. For example, both orthodox and non-orthodox medicines are simultaneously available to the public. What forms the boundaries that demarcate orthodox medicines from non- orthodox ones? These issues arise when examining medical pluralism from a critical realist viewpoint. The aim of the paper is to argue that: firstly, orthodox and non-orthodox medicines reflect political economic aspects of the social context in which they are located. They do not exist in a social vacuum ensuring their ontological distinctiveness. Secondly, there are more similarities between orthodox and non- orthodox medicines than distinctly different features. In contemporary capitalist societies the key structuring/generative mechanism affecting the form and content of medical systems derives from the commodification of health care. This pervades both orthodox medicine and its various alternatives. Thus the reality of medical pluralism is illusory.

Suggested Citation

  • Gil-Soo Han, 2002. "The Myth of Medical Pluralism: A Critical Realist Perspective," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 6(4), pages 65-80, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:6:y:2002:i:4:p:65-80
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.660
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.660?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rahaman, M.M. & Aziz, K.M. & Munshi, M.H. & Patwari, Y. & Rahman, M., 1982. "A diarrhea clinic in rural Bangladesh: influence of distance, age, and sex on attendance and diarrheal mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 72(10), pages 1124-1128.
    2. Baer, Hans A. & Hays, John & McClendon, Nicole & McGoldrick, Neil & Vespucci, Raffella, 1998. "The holistic health movement in the San Francisco Bay Area: Some preliminary observations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(10), pages 1495-1501, November.
    3. Singh Bhopal, Rajinder, 1986. "The inter-relationship of folk, traditional and western medicine within an Asian community in Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 99-105, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Patience Aseweh Abor & Gordon Abekah‐Nkrumah & Kojo Sakyi & Charles K.D. Adjasi & Joshua Abor, 2011. "The socio‐economic determinants of maternal health care utilization in Ghana," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(7), pages 628-648, June.
    2. de Vries, H. & van de Klundert, J.J. & Wagelmans, A.P.M., 2013. "Health Benets of Roadside Healthcare Services," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2014-01, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    3. Volker Scheid, 2002. "Remodeling the Arsenal of Chinese Medicine: Shared Pasts, Alternative Futures," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 583(1), pages 136-159, September.
    4. Nistha Sinha & Joanne K. Yoong, 2009. "Long-Term Financial Incentives and Investment in Daughters Evidence From Conditional Cash Transfers In North India," Working Papers WR-667, RAND Corporation.
    5. Givati, Assaf & Hatton, Kieron, 2015. "Traditional acupuncturists and higher education in Britain: The dual, paradoxical impact of biomedical alignment on the holistic view," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 173-180.
    6. Sinha, Nistha & Yoong, Joanne, 2009. "Long-term financial incentives and investment in daughters : evidence from conditional cash transfers in north India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4860, The World Bank.
    7. Ragui Assaad & Caroline Krafft & Nadia Belhaj Hassine & Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, 2012. "Inequality of Opportunity in Child Health in the Arab World and Turkey," Middle East Development Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 1250006-121, January.
    8. Sinha, Nistha & Yoong, Joanne, 2009. "Long-term financial incentives and investment in daughters : evidence from conditional cash transfers in north India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4860, The World Bank.
    9. Jay Kimiecik, 2011. "Exploring the Promise of Eudaimonic Well-Being Within the Practice of Health Promotion: The “How” is as Important as the “What”," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(5), pages 769-792, October.
    10. Edgeworth, Ross & Collins, Andrew E., 2006. "Self-care as a response to diarrhoea in rural Bangladesh: Empowered choice or enforced adoption?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2686-2697, November.
    11. B K Paul, 1992. "Health Search Behavior of Parents in Rural Bangladesh: An Empirical Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 24(7), pages 963-973, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:socres:v:6:y:2002:i:4:p:65-80. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.