Economies of resistance

ABSTRACT

The social organisation of economic life plays a pivotal role in assembling many emerging and enduring health problems. Yet throughout the recent history of global health challenges, an emphasis on the influence of economic systems has frequently been sidelined in favour of research that interrogates the behavioural and/or cultural dimensions of these problems. The global crisis of antimicrobial resistance provides a striking example of this trend, with analysis frequently and increasingly focusing on behavioural or technological fixes – for example, the need for responsible use of remaining antimicrobial drugs, or for revived efforts to identify new antimicrobial agents – while at times glossing over the market logics that reproduce the problem itself. With a few notable exceptions, the economic headwinds that shape the current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scene have been largely decentred in scholarly discussions. In this article, we argue for a critical sociology of economies of resistance, contributing to burgeoning efforts to understand how economic structures both shape the acceleration of AMR and undermine the development of drug and diagnostic solutions.

KEYWORDS:

• antibiotic resistance
• antimicrobial resistance
• diagnostics
• drug pipeline
• marketisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Australian Research Council (ARC) [grants IH190100021 and LP170100300]. Katherine Kenny was supported by ARC fellowship [DE22101498].