Practitioner Decisions to Engage in Chinese Medicine: Cultural Messages Under the Skin

Theories of agency and decision making have been applied to processes by which patients select therapeutic interventions. Another kind of decision making occurs when individuals choose to engage in the practice of a therapeutic modality. This article draws on fieldwork and interview data with non-Chinese and immigrant Chinese practitioners of Chinese medicine in the United States, focusing on Boston, Massachusetts, and New York City, as case illustrations. I apply theories of agency and decision making to how and why these practitioners chose to engage in Chinese modalities. I build on Volker Scheid's (2002) analysis of agency, grounded in Chinese medicine theory, to propose the Chinese concept of xin ([image omitted] heart-mind) as an analytical frame, suggesting that it can fruitfully be set in tension with Pierre Bourdieu's notion of habitus and Antonio Gramsci's discussion of the “common-sense” nature of hegemony. I draw on a non-Eurocentric concept to enrich the theoretical discussion of agency and decision making.