title: Towards a genealogy of pharmacological practice.
abstract: Following Foucault's work on disciplinary power and biopolitics, this article maps an initial cartography of the research areas to be traced by a genealogy of pharmacological practice. Pharmacology, as a practical activity, refers to the creation, production and sale of drugs/medication. This work identifies five lines of research that, although often disconnected from each other, may be observed in the specialized literature: (1) pharmaceuticalization; (2) regulation of the pharmaceutical industry; (3) the political-economic structure of the pharmaceutical industry; (4) consumption/consumerism of medications; (5) and bio-knowledge. The article suggests that a systematic analysis of these areas leads one to consider pharmacological practice a sui generis apparatus of power, which reaches beyond the purely disciplinary and biopolitical levels to encompass molecular configurations, thereby giving rise not only to new types of government over life, but also to new struggles for life, extending from molecular to population-wide levels.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social and Juridical Sciences, Universidad de Talca, Santa Elena 2222, San Joaquín, Santiago, Chile. rcamargobrito@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8489-5336
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.affiliation: Nucleus on Biopolitics and Ideology (NIBI), Universidad de Chile, Pío Nono Nº 1, Providencia, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ried
mesh_terms: D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration; D011057:Politics
keywords: Biopolitics; Disciplinary power; Genealogy; Molecular politics; Pharmacological practice