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Think Pieces

Vol. 4 No. 2: April issue

Is there a pathological way of ageing? Questioning ‘Alzheimer’s disease’

  • Patrick Cloos
DOI
https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.4.2.330
Submitted
December 24, 2015
Published
02-Nov-2020

Abstract

This think piece discusses ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ from a critical anthropological perspective. I aim to challenge the taken-for-granted biomedical framing in four steps. First, a brief genealogical account shows that Alzheimer’s disease as a biomedical category has only recently become a public and global health preoccupation. Second, the concept of medicalization is mobilized to illustrate the construction of and the uncertainty around this new medical object. Third, I build a case for analysing this medical category within a sociocultural context. Finally, a brief account of the relevance of social intervention is given.