Holistic Health and Biomedical Medicine

Stephen Lyng is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University.

"More and more criticisms are being levelled at traditional, allopathic medicine but Lyng's work moves well beyond the normal parameter of criticism. It develops a good argument against positivism, the basic method of traditional medicine and uses the dialectic to present a convincing alternative using the basis of the Marxist approach to the sociology of knowledge. It is a significant and important contribution to the field." — Derek G. Gill, University of Maryland-Baltimore County"It is ambitious, creative, and upbeat in style and direction. Although dealing with serious theoretical issues, there is a clarity of thinking and a compelling logic that carries the reader along. I found myself reading it like a detective story at times in anticipation of the punch line." — Kenneth J. Neubeck, University of Connecticut

• Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Dialectical Sociology and the Countersystem Method 1: The Dialectical Paradigm The Dialectical Paradigm - The Negation of PositivismThe Philosophy of Internal RelationsHistorical RootsThe Core Elements of the Philosophy of Internal Relations 2: The Dialectical Theory of Society - Two Approaches The Scientific Dialectical PerspectiveThe Praxis Dialectical Perspective 3: Fundamental Relations of the Social Crystal The Human Being/Social Structure RelationRelations Between Elements of the Social SystemRelations Between Knowledge and Social StructurePart II: A Countersystem Analysis of Medical Practice Introduction to Part II 4: The Medical Model of the Future: The Holistic Health Countersystem/Utopia Principle of OrganizationThe Knowledge Dimension: Knowledge ContentThe Definition of HealthThe Role of Subjective Consciousness in Health ProductionThe Source of Organic DisfunctionSymptoms and Organic DisfunctionDiagnosis of Organic DisfunctionNormative ElementsThe Distribution of Medical KnowledgeThe Social Structural DimensionMicro Structure: The Patient-Practitioner RelationshipMacro Structure: The Structure of Medical PracticeConclusions 5: The Traditional Medical Model The Medical Scientific ParadigmThe Definition of HealthThe Role of Subjective Consciousness in Health ProductionThe Nature of Organic DisfunctionDiagnosis of DiseaseResponse to DiseaseTreatment of Disease 6: The Structural Relations of Health Production The Distribution of Medical KnowledgeThe Health Production ProcessInterest Group Structure and the Traditional Medical ModelMedical PractitionersThe Owners of the Industrial Means of ProductionBureaucratic ImperativeInterrelations Between Interest GroupsThe Principle of Organization 7: Diachronic Analysis of Medical Practice The Evolution of Health StatusThe Evolution of Medical KnowledgeDomestic MedicineThe Transition to Heroic MedicineThe Revival of Domestic Principles: Thomsonian MedicineThe Challenge of Homeopathic MedicineThe Rise of the Medical Scientific ModelThe Public Health Model: A New Form of HolismThe Historical Evolution of Medical Practice 8: Emerging Trends: Back to the Future Who Will Control the Health Care System of the Future? 9: Epilogue Notes References Index