‘Medical Imperialism’ is the combination of medicalisation, which can further be defined as “a process by which nonmedical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illness and disorders” (Conrad, 2007), and Imperialism which is defined by Tomlinson (2012) as “the policy, practice and dominion of a nation especially by the direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economical life of other areas…”
Illich looked at this and came up with his notion of “medical imperialism”. Within his book ‘Medical Nemesis’ (1976), he looked at modern western medicine in-depth and found many flaws within it. He argued that the medicalisation in recent years in respect to so many of life’s major changes, including puberty and pregnancy, cause more harm than good and made those effected into lifelong patients. Illich (1976) noted that certain diseases which where at one point killers, such as tuberculosis were now curable through the likes of antibiotics and although this is seen mainly as a positive it does have some negatives towards it, the population, which was once controlled by the diseases which are now treatable through antibiotics, was now living longer and deaths within the younger population were more so becoming associated as being “accidents”, “violence” or “suicide”. However, with this notion it Illich also identified that the surge of medical technology removes a sense of responsibility and replaces it with a dependency, which therefore reinforces medicalisation. As aspects which were once of a personal nature came into discussion with doctors and medical staff, examples being erectile dysfunction, menopause and in some cases variations of anxiety.
Foucault (1976) penned the phrase ‘the Gaze’ in which doctors were able to survey patients in order to understand their body and what is happening to them and furthermore in order to classify diseases. With this the layout of hospitals changed in order to group patients together depending on their ailments. Examples of this can be seen as far back as the 17th Century as individuals who were suspected to have bubonic plague were grouped together in order to prevent advancement of the disease into the wider public. From this point it is seen that doctors became more anatomical as they began opening up corpses in order to study them, and so with this it was no longer just the outside of the body but the inside which could be affected by the medical gaze. Linking this to Illich, Foucault’s theory provides more information and possibilities on how it is now not just the exterior but the interior which is effected by medicalisation and that people are becoming more and more controlled by aspects other than themselves.
Lawrence and Bendixen (1992) state how the male body form was perceived as the “perfect” form and there for the female form was presented as ‘deviant’. This was enforced within medical textbooks as male anatomical pictures were used as the ‘norm’ and the female form rarely, if ever used. Therefore the female body was seen as deviant from the norm and so presented as the ‘other’. This was seen as important and to this day is still seen as important, although not as much as previously, as ‘medicine’s view of the body is the most influential in society’. The ‘deviant body’ is seen as a body which does not adhere to the social norms set in place, for example if an individual were to be over the average weight for their age and height their body would be seen as deviant. This therefore links to Illich’s medicalisation theory as he states that everything has become medicalised and this shows that even an individuals body and habits are.
The ‘Sick Role’ theorised by Parson (1951) explains the rights and the responsibilities an individual whom is ill has to with-hold. Parson’s explains that when people are diagnosed with an illness there are certain aspects of everyday life which cannot be fulfilled as they usually would and so society itself adapts around that person in order to allow for a certain amount of deviation from the normal behaviour society usually sets in place, such as going to school/work. He argues that within the sick role the deviance caused is ‘positively sanctioned’. However, if after a certain amount of time has passed and the person is still playing at the sick role it is considered no longer necessary and it begins to become less of a positively sanctioned deviance and becomes something quite negative and the individual is labelled as such, for example, ‘faker’ and ‘hypochondriac’.
Female Medicalisation 