title: ["Crisis"--oscillating between keyword and buzzword. On the discourse about a "crisis of medicine" in the Weimar Republic].
abstract: The buzzword "crisis" has not only become omnipresent since the recent financial crisis. The term that originated in Ancient Greece underwent several different usages--quantitatively as well as qualitatively; especially in the Weimar Republic, the time period that has long been considered as the crisis era par excellence. Using the discourse about the "crisis of medicine" in the 1920s and the early 1930s as an example, the article attempts to provide a critical reflection on the concept of "crisis". The focus of this article is on the idea's construction, the different semantic usages of "crisis" and the motives of the different authors for their respective rhetorical applications of this term. The analysis of the examined publications on the "crisis of medicine", how they influenced other periods and the reconstruction of their origin show that the semantics of the word "crisis" went far beyond a simply negative connotation, and with regard to its rhetorical usage have oscillated between keyword and a meaningless but catchy buzzword.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Universität Giessen, Giessen. karin.geiger@histor.med.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Geiger
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000266:history*; D004630:Emergencies / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D019365:Metaphor; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000266:history*