Medical Anthropology and the World System

by Hans A. Baer, Merrill Singer, Ida Susser

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089789846X
• ISBN13: 9780897898461
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 440 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Very comprehensive, usually interesting read

As a nonacademic with a strong interest in medical anthropology, this book is exactly what I was looking for, a very broad, thorough overview of the subject, with ample history of the development of medical anthropology. It gave me many new perspectives from which to view disease and health issues. It even briefly covers aspects of New Age approaches to health. Very contemporary and up to date. Since it is written as an academic textbook for undergraduate or graduate courses, the layman will find some sections dragging, but overall very comprehensible and engaging.