Health as individual responsibility

Following related discussion earlier in this Part, this chapter presents a sociological consideration of the ways in which people consulting CAM practitioners are encouraged to exercise individual responsibility in the process of their healthcare. ¹ It has been argued that, underpinning philosophies of the New Age culture, is the assumption that every human individual is essentially capable of perfect health and mental adjustment if only s/he is prepared to take responsibility for her/his own health. Such a philosophy, it is held, is responsible for the increasing trend in people paying privately for CAMs (Coward 1989: 11). People’s expectations, it is argued, about their role in their health and healthcare have changed, and this role is something CAMs are predicated on: namely, a proactive, empowered and responsible ‘client’ role. Therefore, exploring this trend in increasing acceptance of and drive towards self-responsibility is, in part, an exploration of broader societal trends. In particular, this philosophical development has been linked to ‘being committed to our bodies’ (Coward 1989), underpinned by discourses of the ‘civilised body’ (Elias 1978) which conceive of ‘the body-as-project’ (Shilling 1993). Susceptible to illness and disease, ‘the body’ is subjected to regulatory regimes involving diet and exercise (Shilling 1993; Bordo 1995) in order to prevent, or reduce the risk of, illness and to subvert the possible pathologies to which we are predisposed (Martin 1987; Ehrenreich and English 1988; Bordo 1995). Perceiving ‘risks’ to our health through smoking, eating (too much, not the right food), exercise (not doing any, doing too much, going too far), and seeking out healthcare is a route for self-determination (I am this rather than that) and is part of engaging in a set of practices in the ongoing constitution of one’s identity (this is who I am) (see Foucault 1990). In other words, seeking healthcare and being involved in healthcare significantly contributes to the processes of identity constitution in which we are engaged.