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The Antibiotic Challenge: Justifications for Antibiotic Usage in the World of Medicine

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Risking Antimicrobial Resistance

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Abstract

This chapter is a micro-sociological exploration of the justifications that Danish general practitioners adopt to support antibiotic usage in their clinical practices. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with 21 general practitioners in Denmark, the chapter looks upon the clinic as a particular social world (a justificatory regime) in which different antibiotic treatment strategies are qualified and justified in regard to moral and societal concerns. The chapter demonstrates how the medical application of antibiotics is accompanied by different justifications concerned with efficiencies, general civic interests, localized knowledge and more pervasive ‘green issues’ linked to how to secure sustainable societal usage through political intervention.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The philosophies of the different conventional orders are Augustine’s ‘order of inspiration’, Bossuet’s ‘domestic order’, Hobbes’ ‘order of fame’, Rousseau’s ‘civic order’, Smith’s ‘market’, and Saint-Simon’s ‘industrial order’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Kim Sune Jepsen

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Inge Kryger Pedersen

Authors
  1. Kim Sune Jepsen
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  2. Inge Kryger Pedersen
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Correspondence to Kim Sune Jepsen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Carsten Strøby Jensen

  2. Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Søren Beck Nielsen

  3. VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Lars Fynbo

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Jepsen, K.S., Pedersen, I.K. (2019). The Antibiotic Challenge: Justifications for Antibiotic Usage in the World of Medicine. In: Jensen, C.S., Nielsen, S.B., Fynbo, L. (eds) Risking Antimicrobial Resistance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90656-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90656-0_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90655-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90656-0

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