Evolutionary Perspectives of Medical Anthropology, Essay Example

The political-economic approach originally designed an alternative to the ecological/environmental method by which the human elements of society and political environments were not focused.  Instead of concentrating on the particular biological and adaptive elements of the human biology or the pathogens, professionals using the political-economic approach suggest the environment and the attributing socioeconomic factors be considered when analyzing a disease.  These two models are appropriate given very different biocultural scenarios, and each model also plays a critical role in the analytical tools that are available to a medical anthropologist.

As previously mentioned, each model is best suited for a particular type of scenario within a society or culture.  First of all, the environmental/ecological method is best used in a scenario where the biological elements are specifically of interest for medical diagnosis and treatment.  For instance, the example of the cholera epidemic is important because the biology of the pathogens, the mutation of the disease causing agents and the medical and biological defense mechanisms that are utilized to protect the human body are of extreme importance.  Within this example, it is clear that the environmental/ecological method is best because the environments that are proponents of the natural selection process and that promote evolution or mutation within the pathogen or the human immune system is critical.  This method is also beneficial to determine the medical treatment methods that are available based on the biocultural factors that cause the natural selection or mutation to occur.  The environmental/ecological method is likely more focused on the science of the disease or the environment rather than outside socioeconomic factors that may have led to the development or outbreak of the disease.

The political-economic method is best utilized for a situation where the science of the pathogen or the treatment method is more straightforward and recognizable.  Very little scientific research needs to be performed to understand that HIV is a disease causing pathogen that can infect the individual with a developing case of AIDS as well as enable them to serve as a host for the delivery of the virus into other individuals.  The science for this situation is very clear.  However, in South Africa there is a reason that the more uneducated and impoverished sections of the population are much more likely to become infected with the disease.  Therefore, the socioeconomic factors must be analyzed to determine possible trends in the outbreak and to determine a political or economic solution that may attempt to slow the spread of the disease causing agents and reduce the total impact the disease has on the society.

The most important aspect of these two methods is determined by the possible solutions to the medical problems faced within a society.  If the solution may include further analysis of the scientific and genetic traits of a pathogen or a group of individuals, then the environmental/ecological method would be best utilized by the medical anthropologist.  On the other hand, if the science is very clear and much of the solutions would surround changes in the political or economic environments that the people live in, then the solution would best be devised using the political-economic method.  When determining the best method for a medical anthropologist, it is most important to analyze the situation being observed.  Each socioeconomic and biocultural situation is very different from the next, so there cannot be one set method for analysis.  However, the development of a merging theory such as that described in the text as political ecology may best be suited to merge the two methods together to account for all possible bio-socioeconomic factors that may play a crucial role in the development and treatment of disease.

References

Joralemon, Donald. Exploring Medical Anthropology. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.