This fascinating book explores the changing relationship between orthodox and alternative medicine in Britain and the United States from the sixteenth century to the present day. Mike Saks sees the development of orthodox and alternative medicine as two sides of the same coin and his analysis centres on the role of professionalisation in health care.
In the sixteenth century, the line between orthodox and alternative medicine was blurred. By the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the increasing professionalisation of orthodox bio-medicine had marginalised medical alternatives.
In recent years, following the growth of a strong counter-culture in the 1960s and 1970s, perceptions of the relationship between the two forms of practice have begun to change again. The de-professionalisation of orthodox medicine is being debated, while ironically, alternative medicine has become increasingly professionalised.
Mike Saks considers the political dynamics of the process of professionalisation, and looks at the dilemmas posed for both medical orthodoxy and alternative medicine in the development of a more integrated health care system in Britain and America in the future.
