The role of ideology in the use of holistic medical alternatives.
Item
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Title
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The role of ideology in the use of holistic medical alternatives.
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Identifier
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AAI9224804
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identifier
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9224804
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Creator
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Deierlein, Kathy.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Barbara Katz Rothman
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Women's Studies | Psychology, Psychobiology | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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This project investigates the connections between institutional change, the shifting of ideologies, and the transmission of values, by studying people who use holistic medical healers on a continuous basis. Interviews with 27 patients from a health clinic and course participants at a learning center revealed that the primary users of holistic medicine responded to changes in the delivery of conventional medical care by using a different medical system, and in the process became socialized to an ideology which is often considered "counter-cultural." However, their relationship with the holistic practitioner facilitates the transmission of values, some of which support dominant cultural values.;Individuals in the process of becoming socialized to holistic ideology move along a three-step career path (Becker 1963): first, by becoming desensitized to the conventional ideology; second, by having a crucial experience or meeting a referral agent who leads them to a holistic practitioner; and third, by incorporating the holistic language into their everyday speech, a process facilitated by an ongoing relationship with the practitioner. An ideological shift results from twin changes in language and belief.;Little empirical research exists on the use of alternative medicine; scholarly work on the subject has been rhetorical in nature and implies that individuals who switch to holistic medicine have already adopted the alternative views offered by those practitioners.;Respondents in this study, however, were unaware of any ideological differences between conventional and alternative medicine. While a new ideology did not initially attract them to try holistic medicine, it functioned to motivate their return by providing a language which enabled them to change their behavior and an articulated, integrated system of beliefs which made sense to them. A shift to the "new" ideology was due in part to their acceptance of individual responsibility for health, a value which has emerged in recent years as central to all medical ideology.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
