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PubMed1990

[Theories of demographic transition: toward a certain convergence?].

"The aim of this paper is to present, in their points of convergence and opposition, the main theoretical currents which have arisen around the concept of demographic transition in its application to Third World countries. Four currents are identified: structural functionalism, culturalism, Marxism and feminism. The authors identify two main trends in recent debates surrounding the question of transition in demography: on the one hand, convergence of macro-structural approaches and, on the other, greater opposition between the latter and those which favor cultural factors." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)

Communism↗
PubMed2002

Friedrich Albert Lange on neo-Kantianism, socialist Darwinism, and a psychology without a soul.

Friedrich Albert Lange was a German philosopher, political theorist, educator, and psychologist who outlined an objective psychology in the 1860s. This article shows how some of the most important worldviews of the nineteenth century (Kantianism, Marxism, and Darwinism) were combined creatively in his thought system. He was crucial in the development of neo-Kantianism and incorporated psycho-physiological research on sensation and perception in order to defend Kant's epistemological idealism. Based on a critique of phrenology and philosophical psychology of his time, Lange developed a program of a psychology without a soul. He suggested that only those phenomena that can be observed and controlled should be studied, that psychology should focus on actions and speech, and that for each psychological event the corresponding physical or physiological processes should be identified. Lange opposed introspection and subjective accounts and promoted experiments and statistics. He also promoted Darwinism for psychology while developing a socialist progressive-democratic reading of Darwin in his social theory. The implications of socialist Darwinism on Lange's conceptualization of race are discussed and his prominence in nineteenth century philosophy and psychology is summarized.

Biological Evolution↗
PubMed1985

Double standards in the analysis of Marxist scholarship: a reply to Reidy's critique of my work.

This article is a reply to Reidy's critique of my work, published under the title, 'Marxist Functionalism in Medicine: A Critique of the Work of Vicente Navarro'. The first part of Reidy's article contains a lengthy list of what she defines as "the symptoms of the disease" and the second part includes the analysis and "definition of the disease; Marxist Functionalism". Her conclusion is that human liberation requires the elimination of my disease: Marxist Functionalism. She refers to my writings on Chile as yet one more proof of my disease. This article is an answer, case by case, and symptom by symptom, of Reidy's accusations and shows that it is the accuser--Reidy--rather than the accused--Navarro--who is guilty of misrepresentation and inaccurate reporting and her target of criticism is not Marxist Functionalism but Marxism. My article shows that Reidy's piece is an outcome of her maliciousness, limited knowledge of Parsons', Marx's and my own work and own political beliefs, intolerant of Marxist revolutionary positions. The article concludes that Allende's Chile proved me right, rather than wrong, as she indicated.

Chile↗
PubMed1989

[A community battle against a tropical endemic disease: supernatural beliefs and tsetse fly traps in the Congo].

Community participation in the control of tropical diseases is of major importance nowadays, particularly for sleeping sickness (Gambian trypanosomiasis). Indeed, the authoritarian measures used with success to control this disease during the colonial period are difficult to apply now. Moreover, in the Congo, cultural and financial restrictions are such that patients sometimes refuse treatment. Thus, it has become highly desirable for vector control to be carried out at the same time as the treatment of patients. Trapping tsetse flies (or Glossina) is an ingenious and effective anti-vectorial method which has been tested in 55 villages of the Congo. The blue-black pyramid trap used does not require insecticide impregnation, and is hung in the branches by means of a capture-bag containing diesel oil. These trials, conducted in the sleeping sickness focus of the Niari river, have demonstrated the feasibility of local communities taking over the responsibility for the traps, while at the same time revealing certain obstacles. Indeed, the efficacy of this method depends on the optimization of trapping. This involves the determination of strategic capture sites by periodically harvesting the flies and moving the traps in order to catch the maximum number of flies. It also involves regular maintenance of the traps (i.e. repairs, checking the capture bag, clearing vegetation...). However, although these activities would appear to be feasible at community level, they are not always carried out satisfactorily. This results in the insufficient viability of the traps and finally to the reinvasion of the treated area by the tsetse. This study presents aspects of the present-day Congolese socio-cultural environment characterized by the revitalization of traditional Bantou mysticism and religious worship. The possessors of the 'Vital Force' or Kundu (sorcerers and healers) are confronted at night in an 'over-reality' consisting of the visible reality together with innumberable beings and objects existing specifically in the invisible state. This nocturnal confrontation may modify the local balance of power and relationships, and is also thought to cause certain symptoms of sleeping sickness and other diseases. During the colonial period, Kundu was prohibited. Under the influence of the Christian church, and because of the progress of modern medicine, the power of the sorcerers and healers gradually decreased. Then, in the 1960s, the eruption of Marxism as an anti-religious theory, modified the balance of power once more.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Ideology and community social psychology: theoretical considerations and practical implications.

This paper addresses the importance of the concept of ideology in community work. The implications of a Marxist approach to ideology in community practice are analyzed in terms of the concepts of problematization (P. Freire, 1979) and consciousness-raising (J. Barreiro, 1976), illustrating the point with some examples. The traditional Marxist perspective is also examined in relation to the perspectives of social constructionism (I. Ibáñez, 1996), cultural studies (A. McRobbie, 1992), post-Marxism (E. Laclau & C. Mouffe, 1985), and feminism (D. Haraway, 1991). It is argued that the concepts of hegemony and habitus (P. Bourdieu, 1985) can be useful to community social psychology theory and practice. A "situated perspective"--in which it is possible to dialogue from different "subject positions," and articulate transformation and political action--is argued. The implications of this shifting in the concept of ideology by means of theoretical developments outside social communitypsychology can help to define the external (outside) agent's position in community practice.

Communism↗
PubMed2002

Researching youth culture and popular music: a methodological critique.

In this article I argue the need for critical evaluation of qualitative research methodology in sociological studies of the relationship between youth culture and popular music. As the article illustrates, there is currently an absence of critical debate concerning methodological issues in this field of sociological research. In the first part of the article I begin to account for this absence by illustrating how early research on youth and music rejected the need for empirical research, relying instead on theories and concepts drawn from cultural Marxism. The second part of the article illustrates how the legacy of this early body of work in youth and music research manifests itself in current research which, although empirically grounded, is characterized by an almost total lack of engagement with methodological issues such as negotiating access to the field, management of field relations and ethical codes. Similarly problematic is the uncritical acceptance on the part of some researchers of their insider knowledge of particular youth musics and scenes as a means of gathering empirical data. In the final part of the article I focus on the issue of insider knowledge and the need for critical evaluation of its use as a methodological tool in field-based youth and music research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Peacekeeping and peacemaking: the conceptual foundations of a plan to reduce violence and improve the quality of life in a midsized community in Jamaica.

Thomas Jefferson noted that social ills breed economic ills and vice versa. An endless regress can occur with violence and mayhem as a chorus: Every community in the world has its own thresholds and patterns of violence, and communities experience varied levels of deterioration of safety with a reciprocal increase in violence. The United States, having undergone 200 years of social evolution as an independent nation, has a spiraling problem with violence. Jamaica, with only recent independence from British sovereignty, is an ideal crucible for the study of evolution of violence in a very young democracy and, hopefully, to identify problems and provide some solutions. Having gained independence from British rule in 1962, Jamaica immediately demonstrated a facile experimentation with forms of government that differed dramatically from what had been previously experienced under the rather rigid, autocratic British administration. In its 33 years of independence, this country has gone through some extraordinary shifts. An initial courtship with Communist theory led to a destructive liaison with Fidel Castro's version of Marxism. During this brief interlude, the intellectual ideals of equality and peace came into direct contrast with facts of a failing Communist regime. During this period, there was a steady exodus of wealthy Jamaican families for whom heavy taxation threatened financial ruin. The prime minister, the Honorable Michael Manley, a highly sophisticated left-wing intellectual liberal, soon realized the political cost of the alliance with his Caribbean neighbor, Fidel Castro, who was then and is now dedicated to old-fashioned, state-controlled Communism. He attempted to return to a free-market democracy with financial foundations that were, by then, very shaky. To succeed in a project to reduce violence and improve the quality of life, the entire community needs to be involved. From our work in countries where community projects were primarily financed by federal and state agencies, we were aware that the participation of private citizens in projects was essential for success. Commitment has an added intensity when personal time and funding is involved. Prime Minister Manley enthusiastically embraced and inspired this project, believing that it embodied the fundamental principles of democratic involvement to which he was committed. When the authors personally presented their plan to him, he accepted it immediately and with an obvious personal sense of urgency. Illness led him to resign the post of Prime Minister in 1993, but his successor, Mr. P.J. Patterson, has continued in the same committed, democratic mode.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1996

Bringing political ecology into critical medical anthropology: a challenge to biocultural approaches.

This essay presents an effort to incorporate the "environment" into critical medical anthropology. Rather than relying upon the multifactorial approach characteristic of medical ecology or biocultural approaches in medical anthropology, it urges critical medical anthropologists to turn to the burgeoning literature on eco-Marxism, eco-socialism, or political ecology in their efforts to develop a political ecology of health. Given that political ecologists generally advocate democratic eco-socialism as a meaningful alternative to the capitalist world system, this essay also presents a critical examination of the environmental record of post-revolutionary societies.

Anthropology↗
PubMed1989

Equity and public health care in China.

The Chinese public medical care system was established after the 1949 revolution. However, there is no necessary connection between Marxism and the public medical care system; and although the current system may be reasonable from an historical point of view, it can no longer be justified ethically as an all-embracing medical system, since it does not provide equitable health care for the people.

China↗
PubMed2005

Capitals, assets, and resources: some critical issues.

This paper explores the potential of Bourdieu's approach to capital as a way of understanding class dynamics in contemporary capitalism. Recent rethinking of class analysis has sought to move beyond what Rosemary Crompton (1998) calls the 'employment aggregate approach', one which involves categorizing people into class groups according to whether they have certain attributes (e.g. occupations). Instead, recent contributions by Pierre Bourdieu, Erik Wright, Aage Sorensen, and Charles Tilly have concentrated on understanding the mechanisms that produce class inequalities. Concepts such as assets, capitals and resources (CARs) are often used to explain how class inequalities are produced, but there remain ambiguities and differences in how such terms are understood. This paper identifies problems faced both by game theoretical Marxism and by the rational choice approach of Goldthorpe in developing an adequate approach to CARs. It then turns to critically consider how elements of Bourdieu's approach, where his concept of capital is related to those of habitus and field, might overcome these weaknesses. Our rendering of his arguments leads us to conclude that our understanding of CARs might be enriched by considering how capital is distinctive not in terms of distinct relations of exploitation, but through its potential to accumulate and to be converted to other resources. This focus, we suggest, sidesteps otherwise intractable problems in CAR based approaches.

Capitalism↗
PubMed1990

Ethical issues in selecting patients for treatment with clozapine: a commentary.

Three ethical constructs of distributive justice--utilitarianism, Marxism, and the theories of John Rawls--are applied to selection of patients for treatment with clozapine. Elements of an ethical selection process include a means of monitoring the clinical effectiveness of the drug so that it is not wasted and procedures for ensuring that patients' rights to advocacy and due process are met. The authors suggest that a disproportionate number of patients with tardive dyskinesia may receive clozapine because clinicians and hospitals risk litigation if these patients continue to receive standard neuroleptics and experience worsening side effects.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1995

Theories about sex and sexuality in utopian socialism.

It was the utopian socialists of the period 1800-50 (Fourier, Saint-Simon, and the Saint-Simonians in France, as well as the Owenites in Great Britain) who not only challenged the imperialism of reason but sought to rehabilitate the flesh by valuing its pleasure and incentives. Sex and sexuality were central issues for the first socialists, who were scorned as "utopian" by Marx and Engels for seeking to improve the status of all members of society through peaceful means. Because Marxism has played a greater role in the history of socialism, the utopian socialist discussions have been largely disregarded. This essay analyzes the works of the utopian socialists Fourier, Saint-Simon, and the Saint-Simonians, arguing that resurgences of the utopian socialist tradition can be discerned around 1900 and again circa 1970.

Female↗
PubMed1991

[Theoretical perspectives on medicine and the medical profession: an anthropological approach].

The medical field and profession are studied from the theoretical point of view of the social sciences. The most representative works on this subject are presented. The analysis shows that conservative positivism and orthodox Marxism are the main obstacles to development in this field of study. At the same time it suggests the concept of culture and the anthropological method of research as the best means for the overcoming of some of the main contradictions which paralyse its progress.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed2003

[Rethinking the challenges of Ulysses and Faust: health, the individual and history].

Concentrating on two historical synecdoches, Ulysses and Faust, this article takes up the etymology of the Latin term salute as a unit lying somewhere between "existential needs" and "especially human needs", leading to the challenge of satisfying the need for "conservation of life" and at the same time to "surpass it, go beyond it". Both meanings are present in Ulysses attitude of not succumbing to the siren s melody and in Faust s desire to rise above everyday life. Some aspects of the Marxist conception of the philosophy of history and Althusser s Structuralist Marxism are criticized. Also, in light of Marxist-Hellerian theory, the article analyzes the hypothesis that the target of the final reports of the VIII National Health Conference was "particular man" and not the individual, since health is treated only as "an existential need", and does not envisage the generic human. As a theoretical challenge, the text, in search of the unfolding individual, finally recommends the construction of "epistemological sutures" between nature and society, everyday life and universality, and the young and old Marx.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1985

U.S. Marxist scholarship in the analysis of health and medicine.

This article makes a review of 1.) dominant analyses of health and medicine in the social sciences of the U.S. and 2.) Marxist critiques of these analyses. It presents the roots of Marxist scholarship in the study of health and medicine and discusses the main Marxist critiques of the hegemonic pluralist and power elite interpretations of the institutions of medicine and of their corporatization. It also reviews Marxist studies of 1.) the crisis of medicine; 2.) the relationship between production, work, and health; and 3.) imperialism, health, and medicine. It concludes with a discussion of the operational meaning of Marxism in health and medicine, with presentation of current Marxist debates on socialist medicine and their consequences for political praxis.

Communism↗
PubMed1982

Alternative conceptions of class and status and symptoms of psychological distress.

One of the most widely reported generalizations in medical sociology and psychiatric epidemiology links social class with mental illness and psychological distress. Using national survey data, this paper compares the ability of measures of social status and class that reflect functionalist, conflict, and Marxist approaches to explain variation in a 26-item scale of symptoms and psychological distress. The measures are found to be somewhat independent of one another. Although the functionalist conceptualization of status is used in almost all research in this area, the authors' findings indicate that Marxist and conflict conceptualizations are equally useful in explaining the variability in psychological distress. These findings should imply greater attention to theoretical perspectives such as Marxism and conflict theory by social epidemiologists and medical sociologists than has been current practice. Of equal importance, it also was found that no measure, including the functionalist measure of occupational prestige, explains more than a few percentage points of the variation in the symptoms measure. Possible explanations for this are discussed, including sample characteristics, measurement issues, and the possibility of a dissociation between social class and mental illness in the United States over the past few decades.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

[The physician-patient relationship in post-modernism].

The doctor-patient relationship represents a particular link that goes beyond formality and it is projected in time, space and emotionalism. It takes place in the midst of a cultural, social, physiological, scientific and technical context which at the same time is conditioned by local, regional, national and foreign influences as a consequence of globalization. Different ethnical groups, social stratification, economic structures, philosophical concepts, religious beliefs and moral values play a pivotal role. The technological advances have shown an exponential increase during the last forty years. This phenomenon was accompanied by deep changes that varied from philosophical to strictly technical aspects which were significatively intensified during the post Second World War period. The consequences have been unfortunate for physicians and particularly for patients. Those consequences came out by philosophical reviews, the economical liberalism and neoliberalism development, a new concept for science, the priorization of technique development together with changes in both ethical value scales and economic & politic power hegemonies. The great reports of philosophy have tried to justify these social changes. The end of modern meta discourses such as Iluminism, Idealism, and Marxism, incited the liberal and neoliberal discourse. Knowledge has been affected not only in the research field but in the teaching field as well. Today, the discourse in vogue is the performance. The "organic conjugation" of technique and profit precedes its union with science. The State disengagement in managing the great social problems in many countries, the globalization and the concentration of the capital has redefined the power. Neither the patient nor the medicine escapes from this reality. The final results are generations of physicians quite right informed but unable to solve or even face the minimum problems of a patient, and what is worst, they run the risk of feeling frustrated and resentful. Everything is thought and done through technique, and there is a fact that appears to justify this action "The malpractice judgement industry". The economical monopoly of private or sindical Healthcare Providers and self-managed Hospitals projects are rapidly and notoriously modifying the medical labour market. There seems to exist only one element that the doctor and the patient have in common in this new culture: loneliness. There is also a human communication failure that separates them: the patient is in more need of human comprehension than ever before and the doctor has a cultural inability to offer it. To sum up, the relationship between the doctor and the patient is still a theme of deep preoccupation, even more nowadays when everything seems to indicate that this relationship has suffered a significant impairment.

History, 19th Century↗
PubMed1970

[Not Available].

The theoretic concepts and social merits are dealt with of the scarcely known Bulgarian doctors--struggling philosophers-marxists (Dr. Peter Genov, 1880-1923, and dr. Stamen Iliev, 1883-1923). Their bold and never retreating struggle against the bourgeois philosophy and ideology in the field of natural history and sociology is outlined. Both are defensors and supporters of the philosophical and methodological basis of marxism-leninsm during one of the most difficult periods in the developent of Bulgarian and international labour and communist movements.

Bulgaria↗