A medicalização nas relações saber-poder: Um olhar acerca da infância medicalizada

Abstract

This work was carried out through a literature review of researches addressing the medicalization of society by means of normalizing strategies. It aims to understand medicalization processes in society by exploring discourses created by power -knowledge relations. This article analyzes the historical construction of this concept, its limitations and consequences, in addition to the very high rates of medicine consumption as a way to find relief from suffering as quick as possible. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the presence of such processes in childhood in order to comprehend diagnostic processes that tend to biologize social and affective relationships, as well as the legitimization of such processes in schools, families and society. These analyses allowed observing that medicalizing processes define and standardize individuals, undermining their ability to take a stand historically and politically. Authors such as Michel Foucault, Ivan Illich, Peter Conrad, Ian Hacking, their commentators, among others, provided the basis for this article.