Biological existence from medicalisation to biomedicalization.

Abstract

Abstract: The process of medicalisation began around the end of the 18th century due to the emergence of the bourgeoisie and its values, which included the right to be healthy and carry out one's everyday skills, actions which in turn entailed the creation of a state's wealth. In this period, biopolitics was established, a new form of power administration. This made use of medicine to create behaviour that was useful for social activity, shifting the focus from the administration of the law to bringing subjects back within norms through therapeutic action. This stemmed from the fact that the key issue in governing a population is to maintain the workforce and to establish, through health, modes of behaviour that are valuable in its preservation. Genetic engineering and new forms of biomedicine have changed the paradigm of medicalisation into biomedicalisation, marking a shift from medical control over external nature to the control and transformation of inner nature. Through this optimisation, man regains a natural mode of expression within social norms.