The concept of medicalisation reassessed

TLDR

Medicalisation, introduced by sociologists in the early 1970s, has been a central concept in medicine studies but has faced criticism for its negative tone and has been supplanted by terms such as biomedicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation. This paper aims to reassess medicalisation and evaluate its continued relevance for understanding medicine’s role in contemporary society. The author conducts an archaeological review of the concept’s evolution, examines its criticisms, and assesses its value. The study concludes that medicalisation remains a crucial and productive lens for sociological analysis of medicine and continues to be a key feature of late‑modern social life and culture.

Abstract

Abstract Medicalisation has been an important concept in sociological discussions of medicine since its adoption by medical sociologists in the early 1970s. Yet it has been criticised by some sociologists, in part because it seems too negative about medicine, and modified or replaced by others with concepts deemed more relevant like biomedicalisation and pharmaceuticalisation. My aim in this paper is to reassess the concept and consider whether it still has value in exploring significant aspects of the role of medicine in present‐day society. I start with an archaeology of the concept's development and the different ways it has been used. This covers some familiar ground but is essential to the main task: examining criticisms of the concept and assessing its value. I conclude that the concept continues to have a crucial and productive place in sociological analyses of medicine and that the process of medicalisation is still a key feature of late‐modern social life and culture.