| The chapter attempts to offer an objective, yet sympathetic, account of alternative medicine as it exists in the United States today. Sociology has not always recognized the currents within American life that lead individuals, especially those with chronic illness or those striving to improve their health, to seek out alternatives to conventional care. The chapter describes the underlying set of "core values" that are common to most forms of alternative care, and indicates their implications relative to conventional forms of treatment. The current state of alternative care (extent of use, legal status, relationship with managed care and organized medicine, etc.) is described. The rapid and fundamental economic and organizational changes affecting conventional care are also having a major impact on alternative care. Finally, the future of alternative care is discussed in terms of its status as an "identity movement", capable of altering the perceptions of individuals, and ultimately the norms of society. In a society where dissatisfaction with many aspects of conventional care is high and growing, alternative forms of care have the potential to turn "pathology into opportunity" for a significant and growing portion of society. |