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Making markets for Allergy Online
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posted on 2023-06-09, 03:35 authored by Catherine WillCatherine Will, Piera Morlacchi, Helen SmithIn this paper we explore the field of allergy as it appears on the Internet. Starting from a simple search, we draw attention to the ways in which allergy is created as both clinical condition and series of market opportunities. Where medical sociology has often been critical of commercial, especially pharmaceutical, involvement in health, and tended to celebrate the activities of patient organisations, we use discourse analysis to examine the similar strategies and messages from commercial and voluntary actors, and the ways in which sufferers are encouraged both to defer to medical expertise and also to take responsibility for finding their own ways to live with allergy in daily life. We suggest this creates difficulties for readers who are positioned as both patients and consumers through more or less awkward juxtapositions of advice and product placement in health markets that go well beyond pharmaceuticals, and suggest that these markets deserve more attention from medical sociologists among others.
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Publication status
- Published
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Presentation Type
- paper
Event name
ESA 2015: 12th Conference of the European Sociological AssociationEvent location
PragueEvent type
conferenceEvent date
25-28 Aug 2015Department affiliated with
- Primary Care and Public Health Publications
Notes
Abstracts available online at http://esa12thconference.eu/sites/esa12thconference.eu/files/esa_2015_book_of_abstracts.pdf, ISBN: 9788073302726.Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2016-10-17Usage metrics
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