By applying Foucault’s genealogical approach, this article understands the ascension of the medic... more By applying Foucault’s genealogical approach, this article understands the ascension of the medical model of problem gambling as a happenstance and contingent effect of a new form of social control (biopower). The investigation reveals the cumulative effect of some of the heterogeneous components surrounding the medical model’s creation: discourses; institutions; laws; regulatory decisions; administrative measures; scientific proposition, and philanthropic, moral, and philosophical arguments. In the process, it becomes apparent that the medical model is an effect of a form of control that is embedded in the population itself as a norm and follows the schemata of confessional discourse. This power is disciplining individual bodies and regulating populations towards normality by making problem gamblers critically examine themselves and discursively reveal the results. However, the present subjectivity for problem gamblers (i.e., how they understand themselves and how they are understo...
How addiction is conceived has important practical implications for how addicts are to be treated... more How addiction is conceived has important practical implications for how addicts are to be treated. This paper argues that we have a horrible concept of addiction and that has led to horrible treatment results. Examining this concept’s history will show that its main components (especially the brain disease view and the loss of control hypotheses) were invented or assumed by social reformers about 200 years ago, and that they do not map onto the physical world in a rich and systematic fashion. Science has been used to promote these assumptions instead of ever substantively establishing them. There are treatment methods that have been shown to be effective, but these are rarely employed in standard practice. Instead, addicts are provided with interventions that have been shown to be ineffective. Continuing to offer addicts treatment modalities that do not work when there are interventions with proven efficacy, is medical malpractice.
This paper argues that Marx's theory of historical materialism was heavily influenced by contempo... more This paper argues that Marx's theory of historical materialism was heavily influenced by contemporary British philosophers of science. Marx wanted to create an actual science of society, and deliberately followed the method prescribed by John Herschel and William Whewell, who were deeply impressed by Newtonian mechanics. They claimed the distinctive feature of Newton's theory was his use of a vera causa (true cause), which is a cause verified by empirical evidence that is also sufficient to explain all related phenomena. Marx followed their method and began with a true cause which can be verified. From this premise, Marx argued to a productive force which drives the development of societies. The force which causes societal change is the same force that compels people to satisfy their needs. Namely, the material conditions of life that people find themselves in. Consequently, it is quite proper to regard Marx as the Newton of sociology.
By applying Foucault’s genealogical approach, this article understands the ascension of the medic... more By applying Foucault’s genealogical approach, this article understands the ascension of the medical model of problem gambling as a happenstance and contingent effect of a new form of social control (biopower). The investigation reveals the cumulative effect of some of the heterogeneous components surrounding the medical model’s creation: discourses; institutions; laws; regulatory decisions; administrative measures; scientific proposition, and philanthropic, moral, and philosophical arguments. In the process, it becomes apparent that the medical model is an effect of a form of control that is embedded in the population itself as a norm and follows the schemata of confessional discourse. This power is disciplining individual bodies and regulating populations towards normality by making problem gamblers critically examine themselves and discursively reveal the results. However, the present subjectivity for problem gamblers (i.e., how they understand themselves and how they are understo...
How addiction is conceived has important practical implications for how addicts are to be treated... more How addiction is conceived has important practical implications for how addicts are to be treated. This paper argues that we have a horrible concept of addiction and that has led to horrible treatment results. Examining this concept’s history will show that its main components (especially the brain disease view and the loss of control hypotheses) were invented or assumed by social reformers about 200 years ago, and that they do not map onto the physical world in a rich and systematic fashion. Science has been used to promote these assumptions instead of ever substantively establishing them. There are treatment methods that have been shown to be effective, but these are rarely employed in standard practice. Instead, addicts are provided with interventions that have been shown to be ineffective. Continuing to offer addicts treatment modalities that do not work when there are interventions with proven efficacy, is medical malpractice.
This paper argues that Marx's theory of historical materialism was heavily influenced by contempo... more This paper argues that Marx's theory of historical materialism was heavily influenced by contemporary British philosophers of science. Marx wanted to create an actual science of society, and deliberately followed the method prescribed by John Herschel and William Whewell, who were deeply impressed by Newtonian mechanics. They claimed the distinctive feature of Newton's theory was his use of a vera causa (true cause), which is a cause verified by empirical evidence that is also sufficient to explain all related phenomena. Marx followed their method and began with a true cause which can be verified. From this premise, Marx argued to a productive force which drives the development of societies. The force which causes societal change is the same force that compels people to satisfy their needs. Namely, the material conditions of life that people find themselves in. Consequently, it is quite proper to regard Marx as the Newton of sociology.
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