TY - JOUR

T1 - The Problem of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Today

T2 - Eyes Half Closed?

AU - MacArtney, John

AU - Wahlberg, Ayo

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Commentators like Goldacre, Dawkins, and Singh and Ernst are worried that the rise in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) represents a flight from science propagated by enemies of reason. We outline what kind of problem CAM use is for these commentators and find that users of CAM are constituted as duped, ignorant, irrational, or immoral to explain CAM use. However, this form of problematization can be described as a flight from social science. We explore CAM use in light of the rigorous and robust social scientific body of knowledge. By pointing to the push and pull factors, CAM user’s experiences of their body, and the problem of patient choice in CAM use, we summarize some of the key findings made by social scientists and show how they trouble many of the reasoned assumptions about CAM use.

AB - Commentators like Goldacre, Dawkins, and Singh and Ernst are worried that the rise in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) represents a flight from science propagated by enemies of reason. We outline what kind of problem CAM use is for these commentators and find that users of CAM are constituted as duped, ignorant, irrational, or immoral to explain CAM use. However, this form of problematization can be described as a flight from social science. We explore CAM use in light of the rigorous and robust social scientific body of knowledge. By pointing to the push and pull factors, CAM user’s experiences of their body, and the problem of patient choice in CAM use, we summarize some of the key findings made by social scientists and show how they trouble many of the reasoned assumptions about CAM use.

U2 - 10.1177/1049732313518977

DO - 10.1177/1049732313518977

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 24406483

VL - 24

SP - 114

EP - 123

JO - Qualitative Health Research

JF - Qualitative Health Research

SN - 1049-7323

IS - 1

ER -