This comprehensive Handbook examines innovation in the pharmaceutical sector using ideas drawn from the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies (STS). Leading experts present diverse social science approaches to pharmaceuticals, consolidating existing research and providing an agenda for future research in this area.International contributors critically analyse the global dynamics of knowledge production, the political economy of manufacturing, the making...

What is the role of activists and civil society in defining and defending the collective good in healthcare, especially in cases where that good seems to be heavily shaped by market dynamics? Presenting conceptual and empirical studies from a variety of healthcare contexts and theoretical perspectives, this book addresses this vital question by drawing together multidisciplinary scholarship from science and technology studies, sociology, organization studies, marketing, philosophy, and pub...

This book argues that we have reached the 'peak' of a particular model for pharmaceutical production - the neoliberal value model that has been in place since the early 1980s. 'Peak' designates a state where a value model's contradictions become exacerbated to a point where the system cannot but change: it is a point where an industry's products become too expensive and its resources exhausted, and where the coalitions that have held up that particular value model disintegrate. In other wo...

Market studies is a newly emerging field dedicated to understanding the origins, core concepts, theories and methods currently being used and developed to examine markets in the making. Providing a unique overview that introduces, positions and develops this highly fertile area of research, Market Studies is the first book to consolidate its themes, tools and methods in a single, comprehensive volume. Topics covered include: market organization and design; performativity in and around mark...

What is the role of activists and civil society in defining and defending the collective good in healthcare, especially in cases where that good seems to be heavily shaped by market dynamics? Presenting conceptual and empirical studies from a variety of healthcare contexts and theoretical perspectives, this book addresses this vital question by drawing together multidisciplinary scholarship from Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Organisation Studies, Marketing, Philosophy, and Pub...