“From Quackery to ‘Complementary’ Medicine: The American Medical Profession Confronts Alternative Therapies”
Winnick, Terri A. “From Quackery to ‘Complementary’ Medicine: The American Medical Profession Confronts Alternative Therapies.” Social Problems 52, no. 1 (2005): 38–61.
This article includes no direct mention of Christian Science, but the subject is relevant to the understanding of Christian Science when it is categorized with other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments. Complementary and alternative medicine sometimes does and sometimes does not include the religious healing practice of Christian Science. The more commonly acknowledged complementary and alternative medicine treatments include acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy, and herbal remedies. Some within the American medical profession still consider complementary and alternative medicine ‘quackery,’ or less derisively ‘unorthodox’ or ‘unconventional’ therapies, but regardless of their attitudes, explanations for complementary and alternative medicine’s popularity have not kept pace with its growth, especially among the well-educated middle class. The objective of this article is to “examine the medical profession’s reaction to CAM in general, with a focus on the last three and a half decades of the 20th century, and on the strategies used during that period to block, control, and finally manage the threat that CAM posed” (39).
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ISSN: 1533-8533
Print ISSN: 0037-7791
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2005.52.1.38