A diagnosis for our times : alternative health, from lifeworld to politics / Matthew Schneirov, Jonathan David Geczik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schneirov, Matthew.

Contributor:

Geczik, Jonathan David, -2001.

Series:

SUNY series in the sociology of culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alternative medicine.

Social medicine.

Physical Description:

xi, 230 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University Press of New York, [2003]

Summary:

Despite having one of the most advanced systems of medicine in the world, American consumers are increasingly turning to alternative medicine. Through a study of two alternative health networks, one "New Age" and the other conservative Christian, A Diagnosis for Our Times examines the health regimes followed by clients of alternative practitioners, the way people find meaning in non-Western and pre-modern health traditions, and the relationship between alternative health and other movements for change. In sharp contrast with other work on this subject, this book characterizes alternative health as a social movement and a "cultural laboratory" where people discover new values and new ways of living that may have larger implications. The authors discover surprising commonalities between the cultural left and the religious right when it comes to healthcare, and they evaluate the potential of alternative health to contribute to a new healthcare paradigm.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Study of Alternative Health 17

Chapter 2 Biomedicine and the Loss of Meaning 41

Chapter 3 Between the Aura and the Commodity 65

Chapter 4 Technologies of the Self 99

Chapter 5 New Social Movements 123

Chapter 6 From Alternative to Complementary Medicine 155.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-217) and index.

ISBN:

0791457311

079145732X

OCLC:

51040580