Medicalization

Abstract Social scientists have explored the topic of medicalization since the 1970s. Studied by sociologists, anthropologists, historians, feminists, and medical scholars, medicalization has become a common term in the social science and medical literature and to a degree in the public media. While it literally means “to make medical,” medicalization refers to a process in which previously non‐medical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually as diseases or disorders. In this entry, we provide a brief overview of the development, characteristics, and consequences of medicalization over the past four decades.