Medicalization of Life: Biopolitical Disputes in the Field of Collective Health

Medicalization of life refers to the process through which normal life experiences, social problems, and human behaviors are increasingly interpreted and managed through a biomedical lens. This article critically examines medicalization as a biopolitical phenomenon within the field of collective health, highlighting how biomedical and pharmaceutical logics expand into domains of everyday life, shaping norms, behaviors, and social expectations. Using a theoretical and reflective approach, the text analyzes historical and contemporary drivers of medicalization—including neoliberal health governance, risk society dynamics, and pharmaceuticalization—pointing to how these processes reinforce individual responsibility for health while obscuring structural determinants of suffering. The essay also discusses the implications of medicalization for health inequities, institutional practices, and policy frameworks, arguing that an overreliance on biomedical interventions diverts attention from social, economic, and political determinants of health. Additionally, the article explores biopolitical disputes over subjectivity, agency, and the governance of populations, emphasizing the ways in which health systems and public policies can both resist and reproduce medicalizing tendencies. The conclusion underscores the need for collective health perspectives that prioritize structural analysis, social justice, and critical engagement with biomedical power structures to promote more equitable and socially grounded health strategies.