ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, a perspective that may loosely be termed ‘the medicalisation critique’ has been a central stance in sociological writings on the medical profession. In this chapter, I interrogate the notion of medicalisation and explore the ways that a Foucauldian perspective may contribute to understandings of power in relation to medical knowledge and practice and the medical encounter. I argue that the writings of Foucault and his followers, while not necessarily using the term ‘medicalisation’ or adhering to the versions of power relations usually presented by proponents of the orthodox medicalisation critique, tend to present a consonant vision of a world in which individuals’ lives are profoundly experienced and understood through the discourses and practices of medicine and its allied professions.
