Cancer, COVID-19, and the need for critique

Wellcome Open Research

article

Cinzia Greco¹  Ignacia Arteaga²  Clara Fabian-Therond³  Henry Llewellyn⁴  Julia Swallow⁵  William Viney⁶ 

[1] Centre for the History of Science Technology and Medicine ,(CHSTM), University of Manchester;Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge;Department of Anthropology, University College London;UCL Division of Psychiatry, University College London;Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh;Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London

关键词: Cancer;    COVID-19;    Social Sciences;    United Kingdom;   

DOI  :  10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16404.2

学科分类：内科医学

来源: Wellcome

【 摘 要 】

In this open letter we examine the implications of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for cancer research and care from the point of view of the social studies of science, technology, and medicine. We discuss how the pandemic has disrupted several aspects of cancer care, underscoring the fragmentation of institutional arrangements, the malleable priorities in cancer research, and the changing promises of therapeutic innovation. We argue for the critical relevance of qualitative social sciences in cancer research during the pandemic despite the difficulties of immersive kinds of fieldwork. Social science research can help understand the ongoing, situated and lived impact of the pandemic, as well as fully underline its socially stratified consequences. We outline the risk that limiting and prioritising research activities according to their immediate clinical outcomes might have in the relational and longitudinal understanding of cancer practices in the UK. Finally, we alert against potential distortions that a “covidization” of cancer research might entail, arguing for the need to maintain a critical point of view on the pandemic.

【 授权许可】

CC BY