ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is not a topic of patient physician discussion. It argues that mediatization reinforces existing power positions in the medical field and other fields of society. CAM use is associated with several general concepts connected with the medical system and social development, such as medicalization, mediatization, the risk society, and the shift in power relations within the medical system. The usage of CAM is encouraged by the extensive spread of health-related mass media content, products and services, late modern scepticism about the effectiveness of science and technology, and the commodification of medical expertise. CAM is an increasingly heterogeneous and complex phenomenon in all societies, including Western societies. CAM-related activities and information interpretation are framed primarily by the rules of the economic consumption field. The chapter suggests, in a similar vein, that a patient-consumer approach might be fruitful in tackling the problems related to the usage of CAM.
