Social movements organised around health-related issues have been studied for almost as long as they have existed, yet social movement theory has not yet been applied to these movements. Health social movements (HSMs) are centrally organised around health, and address: (a) access to or provision of health care services; (b) health inequality and inequity based on race, ethnicity, gender, class and/or sexuality; and/or (c) disease, illness experience, disability and contested illness. HSMs can be subdivided into three categories: health access movements seek equitable access to health care and improved provision of health care services; constituencybased health movements address health inequality and health inequity based on race, ethnicity, gender, class and/or sexuality differences; and embodied health movements (EHMs) address disease, disability or illness experience by challenging science on etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. These groups address disproportionate outcomes and oversight by the scientific community and/or weak science. This article focuses on embodied health movements, primarily in the US. These are unique in three ways: 1) they introduce the biological body to social movements, especially with regard to the embodied experience of people with the disease; 2) they typically include challenges to existing medical / scientific knowledge and practice; and 3) they often involve activists collaborating with scientists and health professionals in pursuing treatment, prevention, research and expanded funding. This article employs various elements of social movement theory to offer an approach to understanding embodied health movements, and provides a capsule example of one such movement, the environmental breast cancer movement.

This article proposes that the increasing number of individuals voluntarily reducing their levels of consumption may be motivated by underlying social -psychological stress related to living in a consumer society. Of the three primary motivational bases of the self (esteem, efficacy, and authenticity), it is argued that only self-esteem and self-efficacy can be acquired through consumption. The current growth of the voluntary simplicity movement, it is argued, is among those individuals who have met the need for esteem and efficacy through consumption, but have failed to achieve a sense of authenticity. Evidence from interviews with participants in the voluntary simplicity movement is presented in support of this proposition. Anticonsumption attitudes, it is concluded, result from a process of self-inquiry triggered by the failure to feel authentic through one's consumption activities. Implications of anticonsumption attitudes in reaction to consumer culture are discussed. ᭧ 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Although anticonsumption attitudes take many forms, one current manifestation that is growing in popularity is the practice of "voluntary simplicity" (VS). VS, which is both a system of beliefs and a practice, is centered on the idea that personal satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness result from a commitment to the nonmaterial aspects of life. This belief is put into practice by minimizing consumption of material goods, exercising self-reliance, developing one's intellect, and other nonmater-150 ZAVESTOSKI ial facets of human existence. In a slightly shallower form, voluntary simplicity is the practice of reducing clutter in one's life, eliminating burdensome time commitments, and creating peaceful personal space to enjoy life. In both forms, the reduction of consumption is a significant component.According to one of its best-known proponents, Duane Elgin, "Voluntary simplicity involves both inner and outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honesty within, as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the chief purpose of life" (1981, p. 23). Other figures in the VS movement describe voluntary simplicity as a process of "paring down to the essentials of life, what is important to you," and as "a confrontation with your values" (Mazza, 1997, p. 12).The research reported here attempts to explain the motivations of individuals who identify with this movement. After briefly discussing some of the historical underpinnings of VS, a theoretical orientation that draws on both social -psychological understandings of motivations of the self, and Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs, is introduced. The next section describes the research methods employed. Then the data, collected through surveys, interviews, and ethnographic observations of participants in the VS movement, are discussed. HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDVarious religious traditions have long practiced forms of simplicity, but with the exception of Henry David Thoreau's (1854/1992) musings over his simp...

Health social movements (HSMs) are an important political force concerning health access and quality of care, as well as for broader social change. We define HSMs as collective challenges to medical policy, public health policy and politics, belief systems, research and practice which include an array of formal and informal organisations, supporters, networks of cooperation and media. HSMs make many challenges to political power, professional authority and personal and collective identity. These movements address (a) access to, or provision of, health-care services; (b) disease, illness experience, disability and contested illness; and (c) health inequality and inequity based on race, ethnicity, gender, class and/or sexuality.This introductory essay has three goals. First, we aim to explain why an entire volume on health social movements is warranted, by specifying the important analytical questions to be answered and by situating the volume in the midst of a growing interest in the topic among scholars from various sociological fields and even other disciplines. Second, we seek to offer an explanation for the phenomenon of health social movements generally, and more specifically what appears to be a recent growth in their presence and power in contemporary societies. We do this by noting the growing tendency across all movements to challenge authority structures, and by emphasising the ways in which HSMs challenge the authority of medicine, science, governments and corporations. Third, we further develop the concept of health social movements, and offer some conceptual tools that may be of use in reading the contributions to the volume, which we introduce in a manner that offers insight into the ways in which they advance our understanding of HSMs. Why and whence the focus on HSMs?In the last SHI Monograph, Health and Media , Clive Seale (2003) introduced the volume by pointing to the fact that media studies and the sociology of health and illness 'stand at a distance from one another'. Seale used the Monograph as a vehicle to bridge that gap. The same holds true for health social movements: many medical sociologists have studied such movements

Anticonsumption attitudes are an obvious component of marketing and consumption processes. Any consumer who makes a purchase is stating a preference both for one good, and against others. Marketers, as they should, concern themselves primarily with the former of these two preferences. Understood quite well are the psychological factors motivating individuals to consume a particular product, or even a range of products (e.g., the product works towards the maintenance or creation of a desired identity). In this context, what motivates individuals to choose not to consume a particular product or range of products is also understood (e.g., the product fails to facilitate the maintenance or creation of desired identities). Less clear is what motivates individuals to hold anticonsumption attitudes that are not simply the function of a preference to consume one object over another, or what I call expressed preferences. This Special Issue is aimed at exploring a more profound type of anticonsumption attitude -one that might be characterized as a resistance to, distaste of, or even resentment or rejection of, consumption more generally.The distinction between anticonsumption attitudes as deeply held sentiments against consumption generally, and the shallower form of anticonsumption attitudes I have described as expressed preferences, calls for an example. A clear, though perhaps extreme, example is the antiglobalization movement. These activists have challenged the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and other organizations and trade agreements in protests in Seattle, Prague, Washington, DC, Quebec City, Genoa, and other locations. Their actions, whether peaceful or violent, are not the expression of a preference for one type of coffee or sneaker over another. Their efforts are aimed at questioning free trade, and the increase in material consumption that would follow, as an approach to economic development.

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