Sociological Study of the Hormonal Drugs Market in Iran

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tehran University

2 Phd in Sociology, Tehran University

Abstract

Introduction: Taking and prescribing medicine has a specific treatment protocol that doctors can prescribe for people according to different diseases. However, there are some drugs and supplements in the Iranian market that are used not only for therapeutic purposes but also for the purpose of beauty and increasing bodily functions. These secondary uses are regulated and managed by the market with some existing cultural discourses about health and body, which are normalized and normalized in individuals. In other words, part of the problem is the practice and set of rules at the macro level, and the other part is the result of cultivating discourses that provide the conditions for these drugs. On the other hand, special body diets and the importance of the body, the induction of drug use has increased, which leads people to make decisions in order to consolidate a certain pattern of use of these drugs. It is not always in the interest of individuals, in fact, where individuals' decisions lead to satisfaction that is not in their favor, these decisions form a market equilibrium that is in the market's favor, where it benefits the most. These conditions provide opportunities for it puts people and the market to achieve their goal through irrational and profitable ways and processes. The Ministry of Health is trying to play its role as a regulator and on the other hand as a supporter of the pharmaceutical industry, but due to the expansion of the market for these drugs in Iran, there is no proper oversight of their treatment protocol and economy.
Method: This treatise on qualitative practice, i.e. interview, documentary method, and content analysis, has addressed this issue. Drug laws and regulations, press releases upstream documents, and reports have been reviewed, in addition to in-depth socio-cultural issues of in-depth 65 interviews with consumers and stakeholders and officials have been used in this area. In order to analyze the data, the thematic analysis method was used.
Finding:  The research findings are based on a multifaceted process: Institutional level: The role of regulatory institutions in the marketing process and the role of existing policies in the country's pharmaceutical system in the field of hormonal drugs. The second level is the coordinates and relationships of the main actors, in other words. In this study, we address the most important subjects of the hormonal drug market in this logic. The third: cultural discourse, where medical and quasi-medical discourses remove consumer subjects from the heart of marketing processes.  In fact, the policies of the field of hormonal drugs, by objectifying their subjects as members of society and also in constructing them, try to show that subjects themselves have the freedom and freedom to choose to buy and consume, that is, the subject who is the elector and can determine the goals and tools to achieve those goals.
Results & Conclusion: marketization is the product of a mechanism of three aspects of the problem, each of which cannot explain the phenomenon of marketization without other markets or marketing is the mechanisms that affect the expansion of the market for hormonal drugs. A set, or in other words, a network of actions in the political-economic and cultural fields, plays an important role in the normalization and maintenance of these technologies and knowledge and the construction of a bio-political subject. Bio-politics emphasizes the flourishing of life and shapes marketing projects through regulatory changes and disciplinary norms in the form of a lifestyle.  That is, all the mechanisms that make it possible for the body to consume certain conditions, are more inclusive of the decisive and authoritarian tools of power.

with some existing cultural discourses about health and body, are normalized and normalized in individuals. In other words, part of the problem is the practice and set of rules at the macro level, and the other part is the result of cultivating discourses that provide the conditions for these drugs.
On the other hand, special body diets and the importance of the body, the induction of drug use has increased, which leads people to make decisions in order to consolidate a certain pattern of use of these drugs. It is not always in the interest of individuals, in fact, where individuals' decisions lead to satisfaction that is not in their favor, these decisions form a market equilibrium that is in the market's favor, where it benefits the most. These conditions provide opportunities for It puts people and the market to achieve their goal through irrational and profitable ways and processes. the Ministry of Health is trying to play its role as a regulator and on the other hand as a supporter of the pharmaceutical industry, but due to the expansion of the market for these drugs in Iran, there is no proper oversight of their treatment protocol and economy.
Method: This treatise on qualitative practice, ie interview, documentary method, and content analysis, has addressed this issue. Drug laws and regulations, press releases upstream documents, and reports have been reviewed, in addition to in-depth socio-cultural issues of in-depth 65 interviews with consumers and stakeholders. And officials have been used in this area. In order to analyze the data, the thematic analysis method was used.
Finding: The research findings are based on a multifaceted process: Institutional level: The role of regulatory institutions in the marketing process and the role of existing policies in the country's pharmaceutical system in the field of hormonal drugs. The second level is the coordinates and relationships of the main actors, in other words. In this stud, we address the most important subjects of the hormonal drug market in this logic. the third: cultural discourse, where medical and quasi-medical discourses remove consumer subjects from the heart of marketing processes. In fact, the policies of the field of hormonal drugs, by objectifying their subjects as members of society and also in constructing them, try to show that subjects themselves have the freedom and freedom to choose to buy and consume, that is, the subject who is the elector and Can determine the goals and tools to achieve those goals.
Results & Conclusion: , marketization is the product of a mechanism of three aspects of the problem, each of which cannot explain the phenomenon of marketization without the other markets or marketing is the mechanisms that affect the expansion of the market for hormonal drugs.
A set, or in other words, a network of actions in the political-economic and cultural fields, plays an important role in the normalization and maintenance of these technologies and knowledge and the construction of a bio-political subject. Biopolitics emphasizes the flourishing of life and shapes marketing projects through regulatory changes and disciplinary norms in the form of a lifestyle. that is, all the mechanisms that make it possible for the body to consume certain conditions, is more inclusive of the decisive and authoritarian tools of power.

Keywords


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