Biomedicalisation revisited: concepts and practices

Adele E. Clarke, Melanie Jeske, Janet K. Shim and Laura Mamo

Chapter 6 in Handbook on the Sociology of Health and Medicine, 2023, pp 91-109 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter introduces the concept of biomedicalisation, developed in 2003 as a critique of the classic medical sociology concept of medicalisation, asserting that it insufficiently addresses the importance of sciences and technologies to the dramatic elaboration of biomedicine since c1985. It then traces the career of this concept including development of related concepts including pharmaceuticalisation and geneticisation. We then review studies of biomedicalisation in practice since 2010, including (1) biomedicalisation and the media, (2) biomedicalisation and biomedical technologies (e.g., algorithmic and predictive technologies; biomedical technologies and the expanding clinic; and biotechnologies in laboratory science), (3) biomedicalisation, precision medicine and precision public health, and (4) stratified biomedicalisation in/of precision medicine and precision public health. In conclusion, we briefly discuss two current issues in biomedicalisation: COVID-19, and climate change. We end by noting other anticipated future directions of biomedicalisation research.

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