The Australian Dominative Medical System: A Reflection of Social Relations in the Larger Society

Abstract

This paper posits a working or tentative model of medical pluralism, a pattern in which multiple medical sub-systems co-exist, or what I term the Australian dominative medical system. I argue that whereas the Australian medical system with its various medical sub-systems was pluralistic, that is more or less on an equal footing, in the nineteenth century, by the early twentieth century it became a plural or dominative one in the sense that biomedicine came to clearly dominate other medical sub-systems. This paper also explores the growing interest of biomedicine and the Australian Government in complementary medicine to which Australians have increasingly turned over the course of the past three decades or so.

Clinical dental technicians in the United Kingdom: A qualitative understanding of the experiences, of practices and challenges of communication for dental professionals

“…30,32,37,38,41,56 This dearth of academic publications is significant given that the relationship and experiences between these three groups create and underpin service provision and best practice. In conjunction with the above three factors, this paper also draws upon the social science concept of "medical dominance", [57][58][59][60][61] to discuss the structural dominance of dentists over other dental health professionals-a perceived norm for CDTs. All interviews aimed to take between 45 minutes to an hour; however, some continued for longer (with the permission of the CDTs) to enable participant views to be fully shared.…”

“…This dearth of academic publications is significant given that the relationship and experiences between these three groups create and underpin service provision and best practice. In conjunction with the above three factors, this paper also draws upon the social science concept of “medical dominance”, to discuss the structural dominance of dentists over other dental health professionals—a perceived norm for CDTs.…”

A Dialogue between Naturopathy and Critical Medical Anthropology:

“…In my lecture, I talked about how naturopathy or naturopathic medicine constitutes a global heterodox medical system shaped by various histories and sociopolitical contexts, including ones in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa. I, in particular, examined the position of naturopathy in the context of both the U.S. and Australian dominative medical systems (Baer 2001ab, 2004, 2006, 2008; Baer and Sporn 2009). I also noted how naturopathy both in the United States and Australia made a comeback or became rejuvenated within the context of the holistic health movement for which it was preadapted given its therapeutic eclecticism.…”