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The drive for professionalization in acupuncture: A preliminary view from the San Francisco Bay area

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  • Baer, Hans A.
  • Jen, Cindy
  • Tanassi, Lucia M.
  • Tsia, Christopher
  • Wahbeh, Helen

Abstract

Although various biomedical physicians and chiropractors now employ acupuncture, generally as an adjunct therapy to their practices, acupuncture is quickly evolving into a professionalized heterodox medical system in various areas of the United States. This process has overlapped considerably with the rise of the holistic health movement. Acupuncture particularly obtained public recognition and political legitimation in California, where about one half of all the licensed acupuncturists in the U.S. presently practice. In part drawing upon case studies that various students conducted in a course titled "Medical Pluralism in North America and Europe" that one of the authors taught at Berkeley in the spring of 1994, this paper examines several aspects of the drive for professionalization within acupuncture in the San Francisco Bay area, one of the major centers of acupuncture in the U.S. Other major centers of the holistic health movement include New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Houston, Seattle, and Santa Fe. It considers two dimensions involved in the professionalization of acupuncture: (1) the creation of schools of traditional Chinese medicine and acupressure and (2) accommodation to the biomedical model. The essay also explores the health policy implications of the emergence of acupuncture as a professionalized heterodox medical system that views itself as an alternative or complementary form of primary health care.

Suggested Citation

  • Baer, Hans A. & Jen, Cindy & Tanassi, Lucia M. & Tsia, Christopher & Wahbeh, Helen, 0. "The drive for professionalization in acupuncture: A preliminary view from the San Francisco Bay area," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 533-537, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:46:y::i:4-5:p:533-537
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    Cited by:

    1. Green, Gill & Bradby, Hannah & Chan, Anita & Lee, Maggie, 2006. ""We are not completely Westernised": Dual medical systems and pathways to health care among Chinese migrant women in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1498-1509, March.
    2. Almeida, Joana & Gabe, Jonathan, 2016. "CAM within a field force of countervailing powers: The case of Portugal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 73-81.
    3. Owens, Kellie, 2015. "Boundary objects in complementary and alternative medicine: Acupuncture vs. Christian Science," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 18-24.
    4. Verhoef, Marja J. & Boon, Heather s & Mutasingwa, Donatus R., 2006. "The scope of naturopathic medicine in Canada: An emerging profession," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 409-417, July.
    5. Volker Scheid, 2002. "Remodeling the Arsenal of Chinese Medicine: Shared Pasts, Alternative Futures," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 583(1), pages 136-159, September.

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