Medicine & Culture: Varieties of Treatment in the United States, England, West Germany, and France

by Lynn Payer

This book argues that notions of health and disease are often determined more by culture than by science. Thus Americans, favouring action over reflection, are more likely to perform mastectomies and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805004432
• ISBN13: 9780805004434
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The spirit of medicine comes from culture

In Medicine and Culture, Payer describes what she sees as the spirit of the medical system in France, Germany, England, and the US. I say spirit, because she writes about the feel she got for the medical system in each while doing business and living abroad. She doesn't detail how the medicine is financed and regulated, and statistics are presented sparsely to illustrate points, and not flung at the reader. She is very much writing about the feel of medicine and how it interacts with culture in each country. This makes the subject matter less dated, because culture changes slowly, unlike specific medical procedures or government regulations. I read this a few years ago and I feel that it has given me some important perspective and insight into medicine, which helps me interpret other information that I get about medicine. It was a fast read and worthwhile, even if you came across the book while looking for a more concrete treatment of medicine in different countries.