Baer H A, Jen C, Tanassi L M, Tsia C, Wahbeh H
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock 72204, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 1998 Feb-Mar;46(4-5):533-7. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(97)00196-2.
Although various biomedical physicians and chiropractors now employ acupuncture, generally as an adjunct therapy to their practices, acupuncture is quickly evolving into a professionalized heterodox medical system in various areas of the United States. This process has overlapped considerably with the rise of the holistic health movement. Acupuncture particularly obtained public recognition and political legitimation in California, where about one half of all the licensed acupuncturists in the U.S. presently practice. In part drawing upon case studies that various students conducted in a course titled "Medical Pluralism in North America and Europe" that one of the authors taught at Berkeley in the spring of 1994, this paper examines several aspects of the drive for professionalization within acupuncture in the San Francisco Bay area, one of the major centers of acupuncture in the U.S. Other major centers of the holistic health movement include New York, Boston, Washington, DC, Houston, Seattle, and Santa Fe. It considers two dimensions involved in the professionalization of acupuncture: (1) the creation of schools of traditional Chinese medicine and acupressure and (2) accommodation to the biomedical model. The essay also explores the health policy implications of the emergence of acupuncture as a professionalized heterodox medical system that views itself as an alternative or complementary form of primary health care.
尽管现在各类生物医学医生和脊椎按摩师都在使用针灸，通常是作为他们执业的辅助疗法，但针灸在美国的各个地区正迅速发展成为一种专业化的非正统医疗体系。这一过程与整体健康运动的兴起在很大程度上相互重叠。针灸尤其在加利福尼亚州获得了公众认可和政治合法化，目前美国约一半的持证针灸师在该州执业。本文部分借鉴了1994年春季作者之一在伯克利分校教授的一门名为“北美和欧洲的医学多元主义”课程中，不同学生所进行的案例研究，探讨了美国主要针灸中心之一旧金山湾区针灸专业化进程的几个方面。整体健康运动的其他主要中心包括纽约、波士顿、华盛顿特区、休斯顿、西雅图和圣达菲。文章考虑了针灸专业化涉及的两个层面：（1）创建中医和指压按摩学校；（2）与生物医学模式相适应。本文还探讨了针灸作为一种将自身视为初级卫生保健的替代或补充形式的专业化非正统医疗体系出现所带来的卫生政策影响。
