University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

A social science framework for the analysis of health technology regulation: the risks and benefits of innovative pharmaceuticals in a comparative context

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 06:48 authored by John Abraham
This article proposes a social scientific methodology for the investigation of the regulation of the risks (and benefits) of pharmaceuticals in an international comparative context. To do this, it examines the philosophical presuppositions that are necessary for the production of social scientific knowledge; the relationships between epistemology, concept formation and empirical research design; and the generation of hypotheses and selection of research methods, by reference to the ontological status of the research object. It is concluded that objectivist realism provides a philosophically coherent framework for empirical social scientific research on the regulation of technological risks, which can be useful to citizenship and public health without being instrumentally technocratic, whereas relativism is philosophically self-defeating and can only be useful in spite of itself.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Health, Risk and Society

ISSN

13698575

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

3

Volume

4

Page range

305-24

Pages

20.0

Department affiliated with

  • Sociology and Criminology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC