Critical theories in sociologies of health and medicine

The term ‘critical theory’ is something of an umbrella concept in that it is used widely and often without clear definition. For some commentators its reach extends to any school of thought that challenges the status quo, from Marxism to Foucault to postmodern critiques. In this chapter the focus is on critical theory as developed in the Frankfurt School and special consideration is given to the pioneering work of Horkheimer and Adorno and to contemporary theorists like Habermas (via his theory of communicative action) and Honneth (via his theory of recognition). In the closing part of the chapter Bhaskar’s critical realism is addressed. Throughout the discussion links are explicated and illustrated between critical theory and critical realism and the sociological study of health, medicine and health care. In the final paragraphs an attempt is made to discern likely the development of critical theories in sociologies of the health domain.