Biomedicine, Medicalisation and Risk

摘要: This chapter outlines the historical emergence of biomedicine and in doing so traces development medicine’s dominance definitions treatments surrounding illness disease. It discusses how Greco-Roman humoral medicine tradition formed an uneasy alliance with Christianity shaped social regulation self-disciplining body across Europe up until seventeenth century. then birth to enlightenment during eighteenth nineteenth centuries. emphasised application reason science government society identification management natural, physical causes for led clinic which transformed nature doctor-patient relationship. The key achievements are subsequently discussed before postmodernism is outlined risk has come occupy centre stage within contemporary governing regimes. Here this medical profession came be increasingly viewed twentieth century as a agent surveillance control. Attention focused on expansionism annexed areas everyday life previously subject moral, religious legal control medicalised seemingly ever-increasing range human behaviours – including reproduction, mental illness, antisocial behavioural disorders criminality order them surveillance, intervention provides necessary conceptual background discussion Chap. 3 institutionalisation autonomy form principle professional self-regulation Chaps. 4 5 sociological approaches study regulation. End-of-chapter self-study tasks provided reader can engage further relation contents.