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Critical Medical Anthropology

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Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology

Background

Since its inception, medical anthropology has had an applied orientation; much of the work done by medical anthropologists is concerned with understanding and responding to pressing health issues and problems around the world as they are influenced and shaped by human social organization, culture, and context. Despite its strong emphasis on addressing practical health issues, initiatives within the discipline have tended to be guided by one or another of several alternative theoretical perspectives. While the boundaries between these frameworks for explaining health in a socio-cultural context have not been always sharply defined, and, although there have been disagreements about which are the leading theoretical approaches at any point in time, most medical anthropologists are influenced in their work by the dominant theories within the field.

Several efforts have been made to describe and contrast the most influential theories within medical anthropology. In his book Sickne...

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Authors
  1. Merrill Singer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Carol R. Ember  & Melvin Ember  & 

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© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

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Singer, M. (2004). Critical Medical Anthropology. In: Ember, C.R., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-47754-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-29905-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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