Abstract

It is the aim of this paper to establish the concept of politicized medicine. The starting point is the work by Steger and Schochow on the Closed Venerological Wards in the GDR. Steger and Schochow operate with the concept of politicized medicine, although they do not elaborate it due to their primarily empirical approach. In this paper, the theoretical foundations for this concept shall be laid. Therefore, the results of the research by Steger and Schochow as well as the different approaches to politicized medicine have to be examined. In a further step, the house rules of the Closed Venerological ward in Halle is analyzed as an example of politicized medicine. Finally, politicized medicine is differentiated from Foucault’s approach of Bio-Power/Bio-Politics on order to demonstrate its status as an autonomous and fruitful concept.