Medicine as Social System and Knowledge

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways in which medical aspects of life can be viewed as attributes of the society in which it is found. Medicine is seen as a seminal area for anthropological study because it involves an integration between the bio-physical aspects of man and his socio-cultural behaviour patterns. Discussion in Chapter One establishes a concept of medical system as an integrated set of concepts, beliefs, and values, and plans for action based on these, dealing with an area designated as medical by any particular group. Knowledge is seen as the organizing aspect of the medical system; medicine is described as medical system and knowledge in combination with the actual practices stemming therefrom. Illness is a state of sickness; the ethnographic content of this concept varies widely from society to society and cannot be assumed. Chapter Two traces the recent development of medical anthropology and briefly reviews its main foci of attention: epidemiology, ethnomedicine, and societal aspects of medical practice. The relationships between medical anthropology and other social sciences (especially medical sociology) and medicine is discussed. The uses of a medical anthropological viewpoint in relation to anthropology itself, medicine, and education (of medical personnel, and for disseminating information to non-professionals) are outlined. A review of medicine in history and the need for ethnomedical comparative studies occupies the first part of Chapter Three which moves on to discuss the ways in which people recognize, account for and control illness states. It concludes with a look at peoples' responses to illness and the attainment of the legitimate status associated with the sick role. The Western model which concentrates upon ideas of health and disease is shown to be a narrowing of the concepts of 'well' and 'sick' found within many other societies, and is shown to be unsuitable as a standard for comparing other medical systems. Chapters Five and Six both focus attention on societal aspects. Chapter Five deals with medicine as a source of power within society, and as a means of ordering a potential chaos of events. Chapter Six discusses the effects medical practices have upon the composition and survival of human populations. A summary and overview of the potential of medical anthropological work is provided in Chapter Seven.