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medicalization

A Dictionary of Sociology | 1998 | 389 words | Copyright

medicalization A concept made fashionable by Ivan Illich and Michel Foucault, the term commonly denotes the spread of the medical profession's activities, such as their increasing involvement in the processes of birth and dying. Greater power is usually assumed to follow increased pervasiveness. For that reason, the term may also be used to imply expansionist, imperialist strategies.

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