Antimicrobial resistance: discourse, practice and relating

Antimicrobials can be said to have structurally reshaped healthcare, and indeed life more broadly, from around the latter half of the twentieth century. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) therefore poses fundamental questions for ways of living that go far beyond the confines of healthcare. This discussion first explores the origin stories of biotic resistance in the post-war era and sociological accounts of AMR in public discourse. The discussion then turns towards more critical sociological accounts of the policy focus on individual behaviour found in ‘antibiotic stewardship’ and ‘rational prescribing’ strategies. Sociological research has done much to widen the discussion from the level of the individual, locating AMR in webs of social relationships and infrastructures. The conclusion explores a ‘new materialist’ approach to AMR and the need for a ‘more than human’ conception of health whereby resistance offers new opportunities for co-evolution between the human and the biotic.