Cultural studies of biomedicine: An agenda for research

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 461 - 473
• Main Author: Good, Mary-Jo Delvecchio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.08.1995; Elsevier; Pergamon Press Inc
• Series: Social Science & Medicine
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Cancer; clinical narratives; Clinical Trials as Topic - trends; Comparative analysis; comparative biomedicines; Cross cultural studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Crosscultural studies; Cultural studies; cultural studies oncology biotechnology clinical narratives comparative biomedicines; Culture; Diffusion of Innovation; Forecasting; Humans; International Cooperation; Medical care; Medical Laboratory Science - trends; Medical Research; Medical sciences; Methodology (Philosophical); Miscellaneous; oncology; Political Economy; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Research - trends; biotechnology; clinical narratives; cultural studies; oncology; comparative biomedicines; Human; Medicine; Health system; Biotechnology; Crosscultural study; Cancerology; Cultural environment; Professional practice; Public health
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00008-U

This paper outlines a ‘cultural studies’ approach to investigations of the transnational world of contemporary biomedicine. Although biomedicine is fostered by an international political economy and global community of medical educators and bioscientists, it is taught, practiced, organized and consumed in local contexts. This essay argues that cultural studies of contemporary biomedicine should focus on the dynamic relationship between local and international worlds of knowledge, technology and practice. Three issues illustrate this approach: (1) an exploration of the tensions inherent in the local and cosmopolitan shaping of ‘clinical narratives’, with examples drawn from comparative studies of oncology; (2) an exploration of the influence of biomedical research findings and international clinical trials on the production of clinical narratives, with examples drawn from current research on breast cancer; and (3) an exploration of the local or national and ‘international’ or ‘transnational’ dimensions of the production of biotechnologies and pharmaceutical therapeutics. The essay concludes with a discussion of the limits that privilege either universal or local perspectives and claims to knowledge and the ethical challenges that become apparent from this perspective.