TITLE:
The Commodification of Cancer: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Cancer Websites in China
AUTHORS:
Yu Zhang
KEYWORDS:
Cancer Website, Commodification, Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Discursive Strategy, China
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.10,
October
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: With the liberalization of market access, things such as health and healthcare that were once not for trading now have attained an exchange value. The technological advancement may continue facilitating such commercialization and commodification. Against the socioeconomic backdrop, this study investigates how the cause of preventing and fighting cancer is commodified by cancer websites in China. Adopting the multimodal discourse analysis approach (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001), this study identifies five strategies that cancer websites adopt in the commodification process of cancer prevention/management: 1) oversimplifying cancer prevention; 2) representing advertising discourse; 3) facilitating the use of cancer websites and their official account on social media; 4) marginalizing the discourse of cancer-related scientific knowledge; and 5) creating a sense of solidarity. The present study suggests that the commodification of cancer is to some degree problematic. This is because it emphasizes too much on personal efforts, particularly relying on the consumption of certain things, and it detracts from the importance of the socio-political responsibility for the welfare of the public.