ABSTRACT
This chapter explores subjective, interpersonal and everyday forms of pharmaceuticalised governance grounded in the views of householders. It considers the moral positions people take on pharmaceuticals and their consumption. Four interpretive repertoires of the moral positioning on pharmaceuticals are outlined. A restoring order repertoire positions pharmaceuticals as sustaining or restoring order and many householders described medications using metaphors of balance, like keeping on an even keel. A disordering substances repertoire positions pharmaceuticals as a possible threat to one’s physical or mental equilibrium, but as still needed. People need to take responsibility for pharmaceuticals and in doing so, might need to ‘gamble’ on them, weighing up costly risks with benefits. In a disordering body repertoire pharmaceuticals signify a moral failing of the individual or a stigmatised failing of the body. In a disordering society repertoire pharmaceuticals evoke a society in an unnatural state. People are made anxious by the fear-mongering and marketing of the pharmaceutical industry and the health experts who promote their products. In outlining these repertoires, this chapter demonstrates how relationships between people and forms of social organisation can be governed through pharmaceuticals.
