Agenda for an anthropology of pharmaceutical practice

Over the last two decades, patterns of pharmaceutical-related behavior and the cultural interpretation of medicines have been examined by anthropologists in several cultural settings. In this paper the authors identify additional issues warranting study so as to broaden the scope of pharmaceutical anthropology, utilizing as a unifying focus the examination of pharmaceutical use in the context of social transformation. Ten interactive themes are presented which bridge micro-level and macro-level investigations of pharmaceutical use. The discussion moves from the discourse on 'rational drug use' to the rationales which underscore drug prescription, manufacture, and demand.