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Cited by 631Health, Medicine and SocietySocial Movements and Cultural IdentityCommunity Health and Development

Embodied health movements: new approaches to social movements in health

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Brown, Phil, Zavestoski, Stephen, McCormick, Sabrina, Mayer, Brian, Morello‐Frosch, Rachel, Gasior Altman, Rebecca·2004·Sociology of Health & Illness
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00378.x
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Abstract

Social movements organised around health-related issues have been studied for almost as long as they have existed, yet social movement theory has not yet been applied to these movements. Health social movements (HSMs) are centrally organised around health, and address: (a) access to or provision of health care services; (b) health inequality and inequity based on race, ethnicity, gender, class and/or sexuality; and/or (c) disease, illness experience, disability and contested illness. HSMs can be subdivided into three categories: health access movements seek equitable access to health care and improved provision of health care services; constituency-based health movements address health inequality and health inequity based on race, ethnicity, gender, class and/or sexuality differences; and embodied health movements (EHMs) address disease, disability or illness experience by challenging science on etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. These groups address disproportionate outcomes and oversight by the scientific community and/or weak science. This article focuses on embodied health movements, primarily in the US. These are unique in three ways: 1) they introduce the biological body to social movements, especially with regard to the embodied experience of people with the disease; 2) they typically include challenges to existing medical/scientific knowledge and practice; and 3) they often involve activists collaborating with scientists and health professionals in pursuing treatment, prevention, research and expanded funding. This article employs various elements of social movement theory to offer an approach to understanding embodied health movements, and provides a capsule example of one such movement, the environmental breast cancer movement.

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  • Global social movements have played a crucial role in shaping the intersections between the political economy and the embodiment of HIV/AIDS, other health-related problems, education and the distribution of other social goods.

    “For one, global social movements have played a crucial role in shaping the intersections between the political economy and the embodiment of HIV/AIDS, other health-relates problems (Brown et al., 2004), education and other the distribution of other social goods.”

    From From global discourse to local action: the makings of a sexual rights movement? (2006) · cites this paper as Brown et al., 2004

    The Introduction reports that AIDS and other health activists changed funding, treatment approaches and medical practice. The paper also discusses a political-economy critique in its breast-cancer example (A varied repertoire), but these passages do not establish the claim about global movements shaping the political economy and embodiment of HIV/AIDS, education or the distribution of other social goods. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Kasper, A.S. and Ferguson, S.J. (eds) Breast Cancer: Society Shapes an Epidemic. New York: St. Martin's Press.
  2. Gieryn, T. (1983) Boundary-work and the demarcation of science from non-science, American Sociological Review, 48, 781-95.
  3. Jenkins, J.C. (1983) Resource mobilization theory, Annual Review of Sociology, 9, 527-53.
  4. McCarthy, J.D. and Zald, M.N. (1977) Resource Mobilization and Social Move- ments. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 64 -90.

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Authors
Brown, P., Zavestoski, S., McCormick, S., Mayer, B., Morello‐Frosch, R., & Gasior Altman, R.
Affiliations
  • Brown University (US)
  • University of San Francisco (US)
Corresponding author
Brown, Phil
ORCID
Venue
Sociology of Health & Illness
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2004-01
Volume
26
Issue
1
Pages
50-80
ISSN
  • 0141-9889 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9566
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9566.2004.00378.x
OpenAlex
W2030530081
Cited by
631
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 83 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 53 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 17
FWCI
40.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 55 d)
Locations
  • Sociology of Health & Illness (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (9975518)
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, Medicine and Society
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Movements and Cultural Identity
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Community Health and Development
Keywords
health social movements, social movement theory, illness experience, disability, contested illness, health disparities, health care access
MeSH terms
Breast Neoplasms, Delivery of Health Care, Politics, Social Change, Social Environment, Social Responsibility, Sociology, Medical, Health Care Rationing

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