“I thought this is like magic”

a discursive study on the ways patients marginalise homeopathy in talk

Authors

  • Craig Campbell Webster University Leiden
  • Beatrix Futak-Campbell Leiden University College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.34829

Keywords:

credibility, discourse, discursive psychology, homeopathy, poststructuralism

Abstract

This study applies an eclectic discourse analysis within a poststructuralist framework to data consisting of research interviews with 17 patients attending National Health Service (NHS) clinics for homeopathic treatment in the UK. This combined approach focuses on the fine-grain action orientation of language use while investigating notions of power, subjectivity and discourse.

Homeopathic patients' spontaneous discursive resources demonstrate how broader available discourses of homeopathy are used to negotiate, legitimise and sustain their healthcare choices. In particular, patients orient to three discursive strategies: (1) describing the failures of medicine, to warrant the turn to seek homeopathy; (2) emphasising the extraordinary, curative properties of homeopathy; and (3) constructing homeopathy as an alternative with considerable health benefits. The study shows how these intersubjective constructions are mobilised as social action to perform convincing arguments and at the same time manage and attend to subjects' own individual personal credibility. Despite all their positive intentions, these strategies end up locating homeopathy in a culture of scepticism and marginalising it from mainstream acceptance.

Author Biographies

  • Craig Campbell, Webster University Leiden

    Craig Campbell is Faculty Senior Instructor at Webster University, Leiden. He completed his PhD in Psychology at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh. He was Lead Clinician at NHS Homeopathic Clinic in Dundee, receiving referrals from Central Scotland. His research interests include personality, identity and illness constructions, institutional talk of professional-client encounters and theory and method in conversation and discourse analysis.

  • Beatrix Futak-Campbell, Leiden University College

    Beatrix Futak-Campbell is Assistant Professor at the University of Leiden. She completed her PhD at the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. She recently published Practising EU Foreign Policy: Russia and the Eastern Neighbours (2018, Manchester University Press), and her second book, Theory and Method: Research in International Relations (Palgrave) will be published in 2019. She applies contemporary discursive methodologies and is the co-founder of the Scottish Ethnomethodology, Discourse, Interaction & Talk group.

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Published

2018-07-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Campbell, C., & Futak-Campbell, B. (2018). “I thought this is like magic”: a discursive study on the ways patients marginalise homeopathy in talk. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, 11(2), 135-153. https://doi.org/10.1558/japl.34829

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