Biomedicalization is seen as the natural outgrowth of continued
scientific progress--a movement towards improving the quality and
quantity of life through scientific inquiries using biomedical
perspectives and methods. This approach carries with it the
assumption that with "proper" risk assessment, detection, and
treatment, our lives can be lengthened, improved, and indeed more
fulfilling. Yet critics question biomedicalization's ability to
deliver. There is concern about how biomedicalization can change
our traditional concepts of health as we discover more conditions
for which we are at risk, and health maintenance is seen as the
responsibility of the individual.
The purpose of the book is to describe, assess, and critique
biomedicalization and its influence as a larger social trend on the
health field and specifically in the area of alcohol research,
policy, and programs. Chapter 1 gives a broad overview of
biomedicalization. Chapter 2 lays the groundwork for a historical
understanding of how medicalization and biomeidcalization have
developed and are expressed in diverse fields such as aging,
psychiatry/mental health, and women's health. Chapter 3 focuses
in-depth on alcoholism and assesses the development and assumptions
underlying the two movements that have greatly influenced the
substance abuse field: the medicalization of deviance and the
growth of the disease model of alcoholism. Chapter 4 discusses the
origins and development of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism (NIAAA) from its inception in 1970. Chapter 5
illustrates the growing biomedicalization that has occurred in the
alcohol field prior to NIAAA's movement to the National Institute
of Health (NIH). Chapter 6 assesses how Sweden has handled alcohol
problems and currently funds alcohol research. Chapter 7 concludes
with a rationale for an expanded discourse between social
scientists and biomedical researchers working on social problems,
particularly alcohol issues.
This volume will stimulate discussion of the processes by which
social problems, and specifically alcohol issues, are framed,
managed, and studied. It will hold particular interest for
researchers and students in the areas of alcohol studies, social
science, and social welfare. "Lorraine Midanik" is a professor in
the School of Social Welfare, University of California,
Berkeley.
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