Merrill SingerThinkers

Addiction is a social phenomenon originating in the 19th century, dating to the refinement of drugs and to a global capitalist desire for labor control.

Alcohol is a potent chemical, but from the cultural model what is of key to determining the effects of heavy drinking are culturally constituted beliefs about the effects of alcohol.

Medical anthropology is grounded in the assumption that health-related issues, including disease and treatment, are far more than narrow biological phenomena. Cultural and social factor have a lot to say about how we get sick, why we get sick, and what sickness means to us.

A Syndemic is two or more epidemics (i.e., notable increases in the rate of specific diseases in a population) interacting synergistically with each other inside human bodies and contributing, as a result of their interaction, to excess burden of disease in a population.