The myth of medical multiculturalism: how social closure marginalises traditional Chinese medicine in New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This article uses neo-Weberian social closure theory and Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence to examine the epistemic tension between biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), a country that aspires to a multicultural model of healthcare. Drawing on interviews with TCM practitioners and analysis of TCM practitioners’ attempt to become a regulated profession, we argue that a multicultural health model remains a myth as biomedical stakeholders deploy material and symbolic forms of social closure that limit the scope of TCM practice. Discourses of the need for scientific evidence, public safety, qualification standards and English language fluency undermine the culturally distinctive but pragmatic forms of medicine that TCM practitioners utilise. This has implications for TCM as practitioners are denied public funding, their scope of practice is limited, and the expectations for TCM to conform to a biomedical model of healthcare have created tensions within the TCM community.

KEYWORDS:

• Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
• traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
• social closure
• symbolic violence
• New Zealand

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The archival data that supports this article is available at the New Zealand Ministry of Health: https://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/traditionalchinese-medicine-regulation-proposal.pdf. The qualitative data that supports this article is not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.