Synopses & Reviews
Medical anthropology is one of the youngest and most dynamic of anthropology's various subdisciplines. Critical medical anthropology has evolved into one of the major perspectives through which faculty and students study the field. It examines health-related issues in precapitalist indigenous and state societies, capitalist societies, and postrevolutionary of socialist-oriented societies. While critical medical anthropology draws heavily on neo-Marxian, critical, and world systems theoretical perspectives, it attempts to incorporate the theoretical contributions of other systems in medical anthropology, including biocultural or medical ecology, ethnomedical approaches, cultural constructivism, poststructuralism, and postmodernism. This is the first textbook to incorporate this perspective.
The first part of the book is a discussion of the central concepts in, and the development and scope of, medical anthropology, as well as the critical perspective employed. The second part explores health and the environment, as well as the social origins of specific health problems. A third part highlights the diversity of medical systems in different societies, and a fourth part argues for a merger of theory and social action.
Review
[S]uccessfully demonstrates a strong correlation globally between social inequality and disparities in health.Journal of Anthropological Research
Synopsis
Textbook on medical anthropology that examines the global diversity of health systems.
About the Author
HANS BAER is in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Gerontology at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. MERRILL SINGER is Associate Director and Chief of Research at the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford, Connecticut. IDA SUSSER is Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York.
Table of Contents
Preface
What Is Medical Anthropology About?
Medical Anthropology: Central Concepts and Development
Theoretical Perspectives in Medical Anthropology
The Social Origins of Disease and Suffering
Health and the Environment: From Foraging Societies to the Capitalist World System
Homelessness in the World System
Legal Addictions, Part 1: Demon in a Bottle
Legal Addictions, Part 2: Up in Smoke
Illicit Drugs: Self-Medicating the Hidden Injuries of Oppression
AIDS: A Disease of the Global System
Reproduction
Medical Systems in Social Context
Medical Systems in Indigenous and Precapitalist State Societies
Biomedical Hegemony in the Context of Medical Pluralism
Toward an Equitable and Healthy Global System
The Pursuit of Health as a Human Right: Health Praxis and the Struggle for a Healthy World
Bibliography
Index