浮肿病:大饥荒的医学化与社会控制

The Edema Disease: The Medicalization of the Famine and Social Control

本文以大饥荒为例,认为"浮肿病"是对大饥荒的一种"医学化"处理,通过将一个重大的社会问题与政治问题(大饥荒)转化为一个医学问题,它转移了矛盾的焦点与责任的主体。通过一套医学化的定义与治疗措施,它扮演了一种社会控制的角色。同另一种社会控制方式——"坏分子"一起,通过身体与精神的双重控制与规训,两者有效地抑制了大规模的社会动乱。

This paper argues that the notion of "the edema disease "during the Great Famine of 1959-1961 in China was a product of the "medicalization"of the famine,through which a fetal sociopolitical issue was disguised into a medical issue,with the effects of distracting public attention and its potential risks. And through a series of medical definitions and treatments,the application of "the edema disease"acting as a role of social control,which,when combined with another social control institution,namely "the bad elements",through both the physical and mental control,was an important factor of constraining large scale social turmoil.