Incarnation and the dynamics of medical promises: DHEA as a fountain of youth hormone

Abstract

For more than a decade, the sociology of hope and expectations has gained growing influence in the social studies of health, medicine, and healthcare. This literature has stressed the role of representations of the future—through images, metaphors, theories, or visions—in the medical sector and analyzed the translation of these discursive contents into social practices and organizations. This article builds on these results and intends to explore a dimension that has received less attention: the incarnation of medical promises. Looking at the evolving case of a particular molecule, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)—which has been promoted from the mid-1990s onwards as a “fountain of youth” pill—, we emphasize that testimonies by and portrayals of those who are undergoing a treatment with uncertain risks and benefits, and representations of their bodies in the media, can play a key role in the performativity of a medical promise. We analyze this incarnation as a specific “form of veridiction” and stress its normative dimension. This leads us to underline how evidence-based medicine and experiential knowledge—which are often analyzed as two opposite sources of information—can intricate and give rise to the same incarnation dynamics.