The strands of medical social science based on such social theories as postmodernism and poststructuralism have tended to mystify what really affects health care use patterns including the simultaneous use of biomedicine and traditional medicine. The small amount of research on the use of traditional medicine among recent immigrants in the West which has been conducted has often tended to be dominated largely by interpretivist perspectives, which neglect the underpinning political-economic aspects of health and health care. The data for this article come from interviews with three different groups of Korean men (17 illegal/amnesty, 14 skilled and nine business migrants), using open-ended questions. Analysing the processes of adjustment to a new country and the constant involvement in hard manual work and long work hours, the article explores how Korean men in Australia make use of all the available resources to stay healthy. They have fully utilized the ‘freely’ available biomedical services under government subsidized Medicare although illegal migrants restrained themselves from using it until the time of obtaining legal status. However, Koreans have also utilized Korean traditional herbal medicine and acupuncture and other informal remedies despite their high cost, bearing in mind that health is a ‘capacity to work’ under the current environment.
Alubo, S.O. (1985). Drugging the people: Pills, profits and underdevelopment in Nigeria. Studies in Third World Societies, 24, 89–113.
2.
Alubo, S.O. (1987). Drugging the Nigerian people: The public hazards of private profits. Studies in Third World Societies (The impact of development and modern technologies in Third World health), 34, 89–114.
3.
Alubo, S.O. (1990). Doctoring as business: A study of entrepreneurial medicine in Nigeria. Medical Anthropology, 12, 305–324.
4.
Anderson, J.M. (1986). Ethnicity and illness experience: Ideological structures and the health care delivery system. Social Science and Medicine, 22(11), 1277–1283.
5.
Anderson, R. and Anderson, O.W. (1979). Trends in the use of health services. In H. Freeman, S. Levine and L. Reeder (Eds.), Handbook of medical sociology, pp. 371–391. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
6.
Anderson, R. , Lewis, S.Z., Giachello, A.L., Aday, L. and Chiu, G. (1981). Access to medical care among the Hispanic population of the southern United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 78–79.
7.
Apple, D. (1960). How laymen define illness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 1, 219–225.
8.
Arnold, F. (1979). Providing medical services to undocumented immigrants: Costs and public policy. International Migration Review, 13(4), 706–715.
9.
Baumann, B. (1961). Diversities in conceptions of health and physical fitness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2, 39–46.
10.
Becker, M.H. and Maiman, L.A. (1975). Sociobehavioral determinants of compliance with health and medical care recommendations. Medical Care, 13, 10–24.
11.
Berger, P.L. and Luckman, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. New York: Anchor.
12.
Bhopal, R.S. (1986). The inter-relationship of folk, traditional and western medicine within an Asian community in Britain. Social Science and Medicine, 22, 99–105.
13.
Bottomley, G. (1976). Rural Greeks and illness: An anthropologist’s viewpoint. Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 798–800.
14.
Brainard, J. and Zaharlick, A. (1989). Changing health beliefs and behaviors of resettled Laotian refugees: Ethnic variation in adaptation. Social Science and Medicine, 29(7), 845–852.
15.
Chávez, L.R. (1986). Mexican immigration and health care: A political economy perspective. Human Organization, 45(4), 344–352.
16.
Chávez, L.R. , Cornelius, W.A. and Jones, O.W. (1985). Mexican immigrants and the utilization of health services: The case of San Diego. Social Science and Medicine, 20, 93–102.
17.
Chávez, L.R. , Flores, E.T. and Lopez-Garza, M. (1992). Undocumented Latin American immigrants and U.S. health services: An approach to a political economy of utilization. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 6(1), 6–26.
18.
Chi, P.S.K. (1985). Health care and health status of migrant farmworkers in New York state. Migration Today, 13(1): 39–44.
19.
Cho, S.N. (1988). Social class and health services utilization in Korea: Social-psychological and structural factors affecting use differentials. PhD dissertation. University of Hawaii.
20.
Cho, S.N. (1989). The emergence of a health insurance system in a developing country: The case of South Korea. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 30, 467–471.
21.
Cho, T.Y. (1997). Poyak, Wae môngna? (Tonic medicine, why do they take it?). Han’guk Ilbo, 14 January, 5-5.
22.
Chrisman, J.N. and Kleinman, A. (1983). Popular health care, social networks, and cultural meanings: The orientation of medical anthropology. In D. Mechanic (Ed.), Handbook of health, health care, and the health professions, pp. 569–590. New York: Free Press.
Dean, J.P. , Eichhorn, R.L. and Dean, L.R. (1969). Establishing field relations. In G.J. McCall and J.L. Simmons (Eds.), Issues in participant observation: A text and reader, pp. 68–70. Reading, MA: Addision-Wesley.
25.
Doherty, W. and McCubbin, H. (1985). Families and health care. Family Relations, 34(1), 5–11.
26.
Doyal, L. (1979). The political economy of health. London: Pluto Press.
27.
Easthope, G. (1989). Ethnicity and health. In G.M. Lupton and J.M. Najman (Eds.), Sociology of health and illness: Australian readings, pp. 169–181. South Melbourne: MacMillan.
28.
Engels, F. (1968). The condition of the working class in England in 1844. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
29.
Frankenberg, R. (1980). Medical anthropology and development: A theoretical perspective. Social Science and Medicine, 14B, 197–207.
30.
Guttmacher, S. (1984). Immigrant workers: Health, law, and public policy. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, 9(3), 503–514.
31.
Han, G.S. (1994). Social sources of church growth: Korean churches in the homeland and overseas. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
32.
Han, G.S. (1996a). The burgeoning boom of hanbang herbal medicine in the Korean community in Australia: Holistic or entrepreneurial? Paper presented at the Pacific Asia Conference of Korean Studies, Sydney University, 1–4 July.
33.
Han, G.S. (1996b). Korean business migrants in Australia. Asian Migrant, 9(3), 80–85.
34.
Han, G.S. (1997). The rise of western medicine and revival of traditional medicine in Korea: A brief history. Korean Studies, 21, 96–121.
35.
Han, G.S. (1998). The provision of hanbang herbal medicine in the Korean community in Australia: Caring for fellow Koreans or money-making? In M. Alexander, S. Harding, P. Harrison, G. Kendall, Z. Skrbis and J. Western (Eds.), The proceedings of the Australian Sociological Conference, pp. 102–108. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
36.
Han, G.S. (1999). Immigrant life and work involvement: Korean men in Australia. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 20, 5–29.
37.
Han, G.S. (2000). Health and medicine under capitalism: Korean immigrants in Australia. London: Associated University Presses & Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
38.
Heggenhougen, H.K. (1979). Why does traditional medicine persist?Bulletin of the Public Health Society, 13, 60–64.
39.
Honig-Parnass, T. (1982). The effect of latent social needs on physician utilization by migrants: A replication study. Social Science and Medicine, 18, 505–514.
40.
Horowits, A.V. (1978). Family, kin, and friend networks in psychiatric help seeking. Social Science and Medicine, 12, 297–304.
41.
Hull, D. (1979). Migration, adaptation, and illness: A review. Social Science and Medicine, 13A, 25–36.
42.
Jensen, L. (1989). The new immigration: Implications for poverty and public assistance utilization. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
43.
Keam, R.G. (1978). If you can make my voice heard: Satisfaction with health and helping services, and renewed health welfare needs, in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. Melbourne: Health Services Research Group.
44.
Leclere, F.B. , Jensen, L. and Biddlecom, A.E. (1994). Health care utilization, family context, and adaptation among immigrants to the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35(4), 370–384.
45.
Legge, V. (1981). Migrants and health. Sydney: Cumberland College of Health Sciences.
46.
McKinlay, J.B. (1973). Social networks, lay consultation and heal-seeking behavior. Social Forces, 51, 275–291.
47.
Madsen, W. (1973). The Mexican-Americans of south Texas. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
48.
Manderson, L. and Mathews, M. (1981). Vietnamese attitudes towards maternal and infant health. Medical Journal of Australia, 1(2), 69–72.
49.
Manderson, L. and Mathews, M. (1985). Care and conflict: Vietnamese medical beliefs and the Australian health care system. In I. Burnley, S. Encel and G. McCall (Eds.), Immigration and ethnicity in the 1980s, pp. 248–260. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.
50.
Massey, D.S. , Alrarcon, R., Durand, J. and Gonzalez, H. (1987). Return from Aztlan: The social process of international migration from western Mexico. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
51.
Mathews, M. (1979). Vietnamese food customs in pregnancy and lactation. BSc (Med.) thesis. University of Sydney.
52.
Miller, J.K. (1988). Health beliefs and health utilization patterns among Korean immigrants in southern California. PhD dissertation. University of Southern California.
53.
Miller, J.K. (1990). Use of traditional Korean health care by Korean immigrants to the United States. Sociology and Social Research, 75, 38–48.
54.
Moraitis, S. (1982). General practice, family medicine and primary care in Australia. Greek Action Bulletin, 7, 15–25.
55.
Moraitis, S. and Zigouras, J.N. (1971). Impressions on Greek immigrants. Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 598–600.
56.
Nichter, M. (1991). Ethnomedicine: Diverse trends, common linkages, commentary. Medical Anthropology, 13, 137–171.
57.
NSW Department of Health . (1983). Guidelines to improve migrant access to hospitals, Circular 83/60. Sydney.
58.
Portes, A. and Böröcz, J. (1989). Contemporary immigration: Theoretical perspectives on its determinants and modes of incorporation. International Migration Review, 23, 606–630.
59.
Portes, A. and Rumbaut, R. (1990). Immigrant America: A portrait. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
60.
Portes, E.H. , Kyle, D. and Eaton, W.W. (1992). Mental illness and help-seeking behavior among Mariel Cuban and Haitian refugees in south Florida. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 33(4), 283–298.
61.
Queseda, G. (1976). Language and communication barriers for health care delivery to a minority group. Social Science and Medicine, 10, 323–327.
62.
Rumbaut, R.G. , Chávez, L.R., Moser, R.J., Pickwell, S.M. and Wishik, S.M. (1988). The politics of migrant health care: A comparative study of Mexican immigrants and Indochinese refugees. Research in the Sociology of Health Care, 7, 143–202.
63.
Russell, C. and Schofield, T. (1986). Where it hurts: An introduction to sociology for health workers. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
64.
Sallis, J.F. and Nader, P.R. (1988). Family determinants of health behaviors. In D.S. Gochman (Ed.), Health behavior, pp. 107–124. New York: Plenum.
65.
Savage, A. (1991). Traditional beliefs and practices which may affect the health of Lebanese Muslim, Vietnamese, and ethnic Chinese women from Vietnam: Literature review. Melbourne: University of Melbourne and La Trobe University.
66.
Schor, E. , Starfield, B., Stidley, C. and Hankin, J. (1987). Family health: Utilization and effects of family medicine. Medical Care, 25(7), 616–626.
67.
Sharp, K. , Ross, C.E. and Cockerham, W.C. (1983). Symptoms, beliefs, and use of physician services among the disadvantaged. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24, 255–263.
68.
Shoebridge, J. (1980). The unspeakable in pursuit: The Australian health service and its migrants. Community Health Studies, 4(3), 236–241.
69.
Siddharthan, K. (1991). Health insurance coverage of the immigrant elderly. Inquiry, 28, 403–412.
70.
Strauss, A.L. and Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
71.
Suchman, E.A. (1965). Social patterns of illness and medical care. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 6, 2–16.
72.
Turner, B.S. (1987). Medical power and social knowledge. London: Sage Publications.
73.
Twaddle, A. (1969). Health decisions and sick role variations: An exploration. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 10, 105–114.
74.
Valdez, R.B. , Morgenstern, H., Brown, R., Wyn, R., Wang, C. and Cumberland, W. (1993). Insuring Latinos against the costs of illness. Journal of American Medical Association, 269(7), 889–894.
75.
Van der Stuyft, P. , De-Muynck, A., Schillemans, L. and Timmerman, C. (1989). Migration, acculturation, and primary care. Social Science and Medicine, 29(1), 53–60.
76.
Wadsworth, Y. (1984). Do it yourself social research. Collingwood, Victoria: Victorian Council of Social Service.
77.
Waitzkin, H. (1981). The social origins of illness: A neglected history. International Journal of Health Services, 11, 77–103.
78.
Wolinsky, F.D. (1980). The sociology of health: An introduction. New York: Random House.
