Jason Hirsch is pursuing a Masters’ degree in Anthropology focusing on medical anthropology at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. He talks about the roots of mainstream, ‘scientific’ medicine in industrial capitalism, and differentiates our mainstream, reductionist approach to human health from the more holistic, broad-pattern approaches rising to challenging its ideological supremacy.
Episode Outline
- How mainstream ‘scientific’ medicine emerged from among many medical approaches to become the dominant approach
- Industrial capitalism meets ‘scientific’, reductionist medicine: a match made in heaven
- The role of the Carnegies and Rockefellers in the institutionalization of mainstream medicine
- Focused, reductionist approaches to medicine versus holistic, broad-pattern approaches to medicine
- How both reductionist approaches and holistic approaches have value
- Connection between reduction of infectious disease in the late 19th and early 20th century and enhanced sanitation and public hygeine
- The role of ideological supremacy in mainstream medicine
- How clinical trials eliminate the context of an individual patient
- The political ramifications of our medical worldview
- The contributions of chronic stress from social factors influences public health
Links & Resources
- Support A Worldview Apart on Patreon
- Journeying Home (Jason’s blog)
- Episode 1: A Closer Look at Worldviews
- Episode 25: Beth Lambert on A Compromised Generation
- The Caliban and the Witch, a book on the medieval witch hunts as a precursor for modern capitalism, by Silvia Federici
- Rockefeller Medicine Men, a book on the role of the Flexner Report in establishing the dominance of mainstream medicine, by Richard Brown
- Beyond Evidence-Based Policy in Public Health, the book that coins the term ‘lifestyle drift’ by Katherine Smith
- The Spirit Level, a book by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett
- Racism Harms Health, a brief overview of Nancy Krieger’s work on racism as a threat to public health
- Episode 21: Joe Whittle on Cultural Appropriation
Thank you Eric and Jason for a comprehensive perspective on the history of health care. Jason is brilliant at connecting the dots. Articulate and highly recommended.
Thanks for the kind words!