Social Movements and the Construction of Health Knowledge: A Case Study of the Women’s Health Movement

Abstract

The international study (Hunt 1994) on which this paper is based, illustrates the process of knowledge production by grassroots health movements. The processes described may pertain to a variety of consumer health movements, but the specific case study providing the focus of analysis is the Women’s Health Movement. The process ofknowledge production in social movements is conceptualised as proactive and reactive. The conclusion is that it is more appropriate to discuss knowledge constructions (plural) by grassroots health movements than knowledge construction (singular), because, not only will knowledge change in accordance with local need, it will also change over time as the context changes.