Abstract
Placebos have attracted widespread interest amongst anthropologists who have sought to explain the placebo dimension of medicines or healing rituals prescribed by health professionals or traditional healers by emphasizing aspects relating to symbolic healing. Very little investigation has been done however into the perceptions individuals hold of placebos, and their reasons for resorting to placebos and/or the placebo effect within the framework of family medication, on one hand, and the perception pharmacists have on this issue and the uses they make of it in their responses to the demands of users, on the other. This article addresses their uses of placebos and the placebo effect within the context of medicinal risk management in France; it also examines the perception actors have of placebos (whether ‘pure’ or ‘impure’) in the light of their ethical positions.
