Pharmaceuticalisation: origins, drivers and new developments

Jonathan Gabe and Paul Martin

Chapter 11 in Handbook on the Sociology of Health and Medicine, 2023, pp 170-186 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter reviews the recent development and current status of pharmaceuticalisation - a key concept that examines the translation of human conditions, capabilities and capacities into opportunities for pharmaceutical intervention. This complex socio-technical process centres on the activities of the global pharmaceutical industry. It also involves networks of related institutions, organisations, actors and artefacts, as well as the cognitive structures associated with the creation, production and use of new therapeutics. Six components of pharmaceuticalisation are described in this chapter, namely ‘selling sickness’; changing forms of governance; mediation by the mass media; the role of patients and consumer groups; the use of drugs for non-medical purposes; and how expectations about pharmaceutical futures shape the present. In the remainder of the chapter, we consider three new issues which illustrate the analytical value of pharmaceuticalisation: namely orphan drugs and genome sequencing; pharmaceuticals in pandemic times; and digital pharma futures.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Sociology and Social Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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