University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Making markets for Allergy Online

presentation
posted on 2023-06-09, 03:35 authored by Catherine WillCatherine Will, Piera Morlacchi, Helen Smith
In 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.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Presentation Type

  • paper

Event name

ESA 2015: 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association

Event location

Prague

Event type

conference

Event date

25-28 Aug 2015

Department 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

2016-10-17

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC