The Biomedical Construction of "Health"

Nikola Žáková The Biomedical Construction of "Health" Thesis Prague 2014 ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the analysis of biomedical categories of "health", "illness" and "prevention". The aim is to determine how these categories are used in two case studies - "diabethes melitus 2" and "hepatitis B, C" - in the periods 1989-1990, 1995-1996, 2002-2003 , 2006-2007. "Health" is currently conceived as a "norm" that we should strive to meet. Through categories of "health", "disease", "prevention" and through the action of the discourse of risk and individual responsibility (for health of ourself and also for the health of the entire community), is desribed how the normative social expectations about health are shaped in the medical articles. We constantly monitor our health and we manage our behavior according to the potential "risks". This thesis examines how the institution of medicine influences the lives of individuals in society, on the basis of content analysis and discourse analysis of case studies from the renowned medical journal Časopis lékařů českých. Keywords: health, disease, prevention, risk, biopower, (self)disciplinin