Construir terapeutas, ordenar prácticas: aportes para el análisis de un proyecto de regulación de las medicinas tradicionales y complementarias en Argentina

María Mercedes Saizar; Mariana Bordes

doi:10.18294/sc.2026.6223

Constructing therapists, regulating practices: Contributions to analysing a regulatory bill on traditional and complementary medicine in Argentina

María Mercedes Saizar PhD in Culture and Society. Independent researcher, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, based at the Centro Argentino de Etnología Americana, Buenos Aires, Argentina. , Mariana Bordes PhD in Social Sciences. Assistant Researcher, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, based at the Escuela Interdisciplinaria de Altos Estudios Sociales, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Received: 30 March 2026, Accepted: 17 September 2026, Published: 24 September 2026

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2026.6223

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Abstract

In recent decades, traditional and complementary medicine has undergone a growing process of social legitimation and increasing public demand, challenging the traditional boundaries of the official medical field and giving rise to disputes over its institutional recognition. In these disputes, different actors—including therapists, professional associations, sectors of biomedicine, and state agencies—compete to define its status, scope, and degree of autonomy. Drawing on the sociology of professions and the concept of medical dominance, this article analyzes the nature of the legislative proposals aimed at granting official status to non-conventional medicine in Argentina. Based on a qualitative study involving documentary analysis of a corpus comprising Bill S-415/22, introduced in 2022 in the Argentine Senate, and a comparison with its legislative precedents in three previous bills introduced between 2016 and 2020, the analysis examines the definition of professional scope and boundaries and the proposed forms of articulation with the official medical system, represented by biomedicine. It focuses on three aspects: a) the “invention” of a legitimate therapeutic subject; b) the delimitation of competencies and boundaries; and c) the relationship with the State. The findings show that the legislative proposal produces a form of institutional recognition of traditional and complementary medicine that subordinates its legitimacy, autonomy, and professionalization to regulatory categories and to the dominant position of biomedicine within the healthcare system.

Keywords: Health Occupations, Health Legislation, Complementary Medicine, Argentina

Categories: Policies, Healthcare models, Work

Full-text of the article is available for this language: Español (España).

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