Abstract

This article examines the social integration of complementary and
alternative medicine in official health care in Russia. In so doing, it
considers the background to the development of complementary and
alternative medicine linked to its cultural roots in Russia, including in the
Soviet period. In charting its revival in official medicine from the 1980s
to the present day, it draws on original survey and other data from a
recent INTAS-funded research project on Russian doctors. The subject is
approached from a neo-Weberian perspective, through which the
operation of medical interests is analysed in the context of the evolving
health marketplace and changing state policies. The article concludes by
highlighting the implications of the political debates over integration for
the social inclusion of complementary and alternative medicine and the
citizenship of both its practitioners and users in Russia.