Foucault And Medicalization

1. Medicalization is defined as being “the way in which increasing areas of social life are seen as falling under the remit of doctors” (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008:280). In modern society, where science is used to explain and define everything, it comes as no surprise that a simple problem, such as shyness or embarrassment, which can be dealt with by using other means is given a medical term and is dealt with through medical means. A simple and temporary infection such as the flu, which could be treated with rest and warmth, is now being termed using medical names making it sound like it is something deadly, and prescribing up to eight different forms of medication for it.

The concept of medicalization is set out in an article published
by Baker (2010), in which she discusses how a simple human condition such as menopause, which is a natural part of womanhood, has come to be known as being a medical condition, complete with symptoms, and has had a range of prescription medication attached to it ranging from hormone mediation to anti depressants. It is, and has been for many years, known as being a natural part of being a woman and is experienced by many women when growing older, yet somehow scientists have found a way of making it sound like a deadly virus which can kill you if not treated with care and the right medication.

These days society is more or less controlled by science, and things such as medicalization have become forms of social control in that society had become heavily dependent on medication and doctors for treating things which are natural and do not need medical treatment.
We have become so naïve that we are spending thousands, annually, on medical treatment, and even psychological treatment for conditions which are part of human reproductivity. Western medicine has become the most dominating form of treatment for all illnesses, so much that traditional ways of healing are being used less and less and because of this are starting to fade away. In Foucault’s view, the use of Western medicine is and has become a form of social control in the sense that society believes and trusts doctors and scientists because it is something that has been drilled into them by the media (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008:317). There is no evidential proof that traditional healing methods work, yet there are thousands of articles and news reports about how a surgery or a certain drug, for something as simple as a headache, has helped someone and has changed their
lives.

2.
Healthism is said to be the type of lifestyle that prioritizes health, disease prevention, and fitness, such as exercise, the use of vitamins and diets, over everything else (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008:281). It is seen as being very influential in shaping our images of not only ourselves but those of other people as well, be it our physical appearance in terms of the shape of your body and its size, and also whether or not you look too old for your age (Jones, 1998:253). Instead of using medication and surgery as a way of solving health issues, Healthism promotes the use of exercising, using the correct diet, and staying fit and healthy as a way of preventing illness leading up to medicalization of a non medical condition such as
obesity. Society is very obsessed with images and how people look, and to them it does not matter how old you are or how young you are, they will judge you regardless. Society is known for having its own perceptions of people and how they should look, putting pressure on a vast number of people, more especially young people who are still vulnerable, to have a certain waist size and look like a model. In one way or another, in my opinion, this serves as a form of social control. Relative media forms such as television, radio and the internet constantly preach the message of having to keep healthy, often using images of celebrities and well known public personalities. When people see this, they immediately feel the need to want to look like their favorite celebrity and thus end up going on strict diets, not for staying healthy, but for losing weight and becoming the same as their icon.

Although Healthism has many advantages, one of the biggest being that it promotes a healthy way of life, away from alcohol, drugs, and smoking, it can also serve many disadvantages. It can be the result of conditions such as anorexia and many other eating disorders because people take it overboard. Instead of dieting to stay in shape of exercising to stay fit, they end up doing it to lose weight and in some cases people become obsessed and end up losing more weight than required.

List of References
Haralambos, M. & Holborn, M. (7th ed) 2008. Sociology Themes and Perspectives.
London: Collins.
Jones, M. & Marks, L. A. B. 1998. Disability, drivers, ability, and legal change. The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.
Baker, S. 2010. Medicalization. Natural News.com.
http://www.naturalnews.com/028882_healthcare_costs_medicalization.html.