Humans and Devices in Medical Contexts

Reviews / Votes

"By comparing the use of medical devices between Japan and various other countries, this book underscores that even global technologies are not universal. This prompts the question how the differences traced best be used as sources of intellectual as well as practical inspiration." (Annemarie Mol, co-editor of On Other Terms: Interfering in Social Science English)

"Technology in medicine in Japan is a fascinating subject. From the triumph of hi-tech and reliable devices to the disaster of the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japanese medical technology has attracted the attention of scholars in humanities and social sciences, and this work marks a solid starting point. Brucksch and Sasaki have collected twelve absorbing chapters and opened the door to many disciplines as philosophy, history, and economics, as well as medicine and engineering." (Akihito Suzuki, Professor of History, Keio University, Japan)

"This book is an important contribution to the interdisciplinary study of innovation, diffusion and evaluation of high-tech medicine, including citizen's experiences with radiation. The focus on Japan illustrates the relevancy and richness of an approach that accounts for the socio-historical, cultural and political situatedness of the relationship between humans and medical devices. The fascinating case studies of the Japanese locale remind us of the importance of breaking with a universalist perspective that only addresses European and North-American perspectives and taking their socio-cultural contexts for granted." (Nelly Oudshoorn, Professor Emerita of Technology Dynamics and Healthcare, University of Twente, the Netherlands)

"A remarkable collection of well researched essays from several disciplinary standpoints about how the use of technology is shaped by culture, beliefs, politics, organizational interests and other social factors inthe medical field in Japan, e.g. radiation measurement and the controversies about brain death, patient safety, as well as robots." (John Campbell, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Michigan, US)