Health Social Movements: Advancing Traditional Medical Sociology Concepts

  • Phil Brown
  • , Rachel Morello-Frosch
  • , Stephen Zavestoski
  • , Laura Senier
  • , Rebecca Gasior Altman
  • , Elizabeth Hoover
  • , Sabrina McCormick
  • , Brian Mayer
  • , Crystal Adams

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Over the last decade, a growing number of social scientists have turned their attention to the study of activism around health issues. Health social movements (HSMs) have pressed the institution of medicine to change in dramatic ways, embracing new modes of healthcare delivery and organization. Health activists have also pushed medicine to evolve by connecting their health concerns to other substantive issues such as social and environmental justice, poverty, and occupational or environmentally induced diseases. HSMs therefore serve as an important bridge, connecting the institution of medicine to other social institutions. In similar fashion, the study of HSMs has motivated medical sociology to develop new tools and theoretical perspectives to understand these alterations in the medical landscape. Medical sociologists stand to learn a great deal about the institution of medicine by observing it as it comes into conflict with patients and activists around issues of health care delivery, science and policy, and regulatory action. This broad sweep of interests must be systematized, which is our project here.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHandbooks of Sociology and Social Research
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages117-137
Number of pages21
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameHandbooks of Sociology and Social Research
ISSN (Print)1389-6903
ISSN (Electronic)2542-839X

Keywords

  • Black Panther Party
  • Breast Cancer
  • Environmental Justice
  • Illness Experience
  • Social Movement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychology (miscellaneous)
  • Social Psychology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Sociology and Political Science

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