IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v193y2017icp51-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pastoral power in HIV prevention: Converging rationalities of care in Christian and medical practices in Papua New Guinea

Author

Listed:
  • Shih, P.
  • Worth, H.
  • Travaglia, J.
  • Kelly-Hanku, A.

Abstract

In his conceptualisation of pastoral power, Michel Foucault argues that modern healthcare practices derive a specific power technique from pastors of the early Christian church. As experts in a position of authority, pastors practise the care of others through implicitly guiding them towards thoughts and actions that effect self-care, and towards a predefined realm of acceptable conduct, thus having a regulatory effect. This qualitative study of healthcare workers from two Christian faith-based organisations in Papua New Guinea examines the pastoral rationalities of HIV prevention practices which draw together globally circulated modern medical knowledge and Christian teachings in sexual morality for implicit social regulation. Community-based HIV awareness education, voluntary counselling and testing services, mobile outreach, and economic empowerment programs are standardised by promoting behavioural choice and individual responsibility for health. Through pastoral rationalities of care, healthcare practices become part of the social production of negative differences, and condemn those who become ill due to perceived immorality. This emphasis assumes that all individuals are equal in their ability to make behavioural choices, and downplays social inequality and structural drivers of HIV risk that are outside individual control. Given healthcare workers’ recognition of the structural drivers of HIV, yet the lack of language and practical strategies to address these issues, political commitment is needed to enhance structural competency among HIV prevention programs and healthcare workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Shih, P. & Worth, H. & Travaglia, J. & Kelly-Hanku, A., 2017. "Pastoral power in HIV prevention: Converging rationalities of care in Christian and medical practices in Papua New Guinea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 51-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:193:y:2017:i:c:p:51-58
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.09.049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617305932
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.09.049?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Metzl, Jonathan M. & Hansen, Helena, 2014. "Structural competency: Theorizing a new medical engagement with stigma and inequality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 126-133.
    2. Murray, Laura R. & Garcia, Jonathan & Muñoz-Laboy, Miguel & Parker, Richard G., 2011. "Strange bedfellows: The Catholic Church and Brazilian National AIDS Program in the response to HIV/AIDS in Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(6), pages 945-952, March.
    3. Parker, Richard & Aggleton, Peter, 2003. "HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: a conceptual framework and implications for action," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 13-24, July.
    4. Derick W. Brinkerhoff & Volker A. Hauck, 2010. "The role of churches in creating social capital and improving governance in Papua New Guinea: Lessons for working in fragile situations," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 30(1), pages 49-65, February.
    5. Crawshaw, Paul, 2012. "Governing at a distance: Social marketing and the (bio) politics of responsibility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 200-207.
    6. Brijnath, Bianca & Antoniades, Josefine, 2016. "“I'm running my depression:” Self-management of depression in neoliberal Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-8.
    7. Kelly-Hanku, Angela & Aggleton, Peter & Shih, Patti, 2014. "‘We call it a virus but I want to say it's the devil inside’: Redemption, moral reform and relationships with God among people living with HIV in Papua New Guinea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 106-113.
    8. Waring, Justin & Latif, Asam & Boyd, Matthew & Barber, Nick & Elliott, Rachel, 2016. "Pastoral power in the community pharmacy: A Foucauldian analysis of services to promote patient adherence to new medicine use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 123-130.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Butler, Clare, 2019. "Working the 'wise’ in speech and language therapy: Evidence-based practice, biopolitics and ‘pastoral labour’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1-8.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timmermans, Stefan & Tietbohl, Caroline, 2018. "Fifty years of sociological leadership at Social Science and Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 209-215.
    2. Guise, Andy, 2024. "Stigma power in practice: Exploring the contribution of Bourdieu's theory to stigma, discrimination and health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    3. Butler, Clare, 2019. "Working the 'wise’ in speech and language therapy: Evidence-based practice, biopolitics and ‘pastoral labour’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1-8.
    4. Flick, Sabine, 2019. "The biographical gaze: Psychotherapeutic practice in psychosomatic hospitals in Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 83-90.
    5. Bluthenthal, Ricky N. & Palar, Kartika & Mendel, Peter & Kanouse, David E. & Corbin, Dennis E. & Derose, Kathryn Pitkin, 2012. "Attitudes and beliefs related to HIV/AIDS in urban religious congregations: Barriers and opportunities for HIV-related interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1520-1527.
    6. Petrakaki, Dimitra & Hilberg, Eva & Waring, Justin, 2018. "Between empowerment and self-discipline: Governing patients' conduct through technological self-care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 146-153.
    7. Mazanderani, Fadhila & Paparini, Sara, 2015. "The stories we tell: Qualitative research interviews, talking technologies and the ‘normalisation’ of life with HIV," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 66-73.
    8. Chen Zhang & Xiaoming Li & Yu Liu & Shan Qiao & Liying Zhang & Yuejiao Zhou & Zhenzhu Tang & Zhiyong Shen & Yi Chen, 2016. "Stigma against People Living with HIV/AIDS in China: Does the Route of Infection Matter?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Rathert, Cheryl & Mittler, Jessica N. & Vogus, Timothy J. & Lee, Yuna S.H., 2023. "Better outcomes through patient – Provider therapeutic connections? An exploratory study of proposed mediating variables," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    10. Winskell, Kate & Sabben, Gaëlle, 2016. "Sexual stigma and symbolic violence experienced, enacted, and counteracted in young Africans’ writing about same-sex attraction," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 143-150.
    11. Langford, Rebecca & Panter-Brick, Catherine, 2013. "A health equity critique of social marketing: Where interventions have impact but insufficient reach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 133-141.
    12. Montenegro, Roberto E. & Dori-Hacohen, Gonen, 2020. "Morality in sugar talk: Presenting blood glucose levels in routine diabetes medical visits," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    13. Warren Kealy-Bateman & Georgina M. Gorman & Adam P. Carroll, 2021. "Patient/Consumer Codesign and Coproduction of Medical Curricula: A Possible Path Toward Improved Cultural Competence and Reduced Health Disparity," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, June.
    14. Shilo St. Cyr & Elise Trott Jaramillo & Laura Garrison & Lorraine Halinka Malcoe & Stephen R. Shamblen & Cathleen E. Willging, 2021. "Intimate Partner Violence and Structural Violence in the Lives of Incarcerated Women: A Mixed-Method Study in Rural New Mexico," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-16, June.
    15. Elena Briones Alonso & Lara Cockx & Jo Swinnen, 2017. "Culture and food security," Working Papers of Department of Economics, Leuven 591898, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Department of Economics, Leuven.
    16. Daftary, Amrita, 2012. "HIV and tuberculosis: The construction and management of double stigma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(10), pages 1512-1519.
    17. Rivers, Ian & Gonzalez, Cesar & Nodin, Nuno & Peel, Elizabeth & Tyler, Allan, 2018. "LGBT people and suicidality in youth: A qualitative study of perceptions of risk and protective circumstances," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1-8.
    18. Gogna, Mónica Laura & Pecheny, Mario M. & Ibarlucía, Inés & Manzelli, Hernán & López, Sara Barrón, 2009. "The reproductive needs and rights of people living with HIV in Argentina: Health service users' and providers' perspectives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 813-820, September.
    19. Sarah Atkinson & Anne-Marie Bagnall & Rhiannon Corcoran & Jane South & Sarah Curtis, 2020. "Being Well Together: Individual Subjective and Community Wellbeing," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1903-1921, June.
    20. Frederick, Angela, 2017. "Visibility, respectability, and disengagement: The everyday resistance of mothers with disabilities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 131-138.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:193:y:2017:i:c:p:51-58. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.