Antimicrobial resistance: social science approaches to the microbiosocial

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which is caused through changes to microbes’ responses to antimicrobial drugs, poses major threats to global health and development. There is a growing recognition of the importance of inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary knowledge in forming responses to address AMR. This chapter examines the major approaches to what the authors term the microbiosocial as a shorthand means to emphasize the social–environmental relationships with the microbiological. As noted in this chapter, social science engagement with microbiological ecologies provides new perspectives on health but also challenges notions of the individual body as a unitary, indivisible unit of analysis and against reifying the biological/social boundary. This chapter is drawn upon qualitative research in anthropology, sociology, human geography, history, and the social studies of science and technology. First, it considers work done on the varied understandings of AMR. It then reviews research of microbiosocial practices, in particular the use of antimicrobials among the lay public and also studies of antimicrobial use among healthcare providers. Critical medical anthropology/sociology work on the political economy of pharmaceutical production, access, and distribution is another major body of social science literature relevant to the issue of AMR. The chapter then describes the growing interests within social science scholarship attending to the other-than-human and multispecies ethnographies and their implications for exploring microbiosocial relations. Finally, it summarizes work done on the policy and media discourses. It also identifies further areas of research needed if researchers are to address the growing public health issue of AMR.