741
Risk and Medicalization I
Risk and Medicalization I
Abstract Submissions Closed
Tuesday, 23 February 2021: 16:00-17:30
Location:
TG04 Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty (host committee)
Language: Spanish and English
Session Type: Oral
Medical sociology has recognized medicalization as a salient process in modern societies, because it enhances the influence and reach of medicine as an expert system that shapes identites, social relations and institutions. In the last decades, researchers have recognized risk as a driving force of medicalization, which shifts the boundaries bertween health and illness. Conditions previously not regarded as diseases enter the scope of medical discourse and practice, and prevention of health risks has become a major concern of gomverments and individuals, enhancing the scope of medical practice. Acting upon risk of illness is considered a desirable conduct and obligation for health systems. The object of this session is to discuss specific instances of the relation between medicalizaton and risk and its consequences for societies, institutions and individuals.
Session Organizers: