This paper explores the general structural constraints which are imposed upon all states in capitalist societies in their problem-solving endeavor relative to health. The general argument is that capitalist industrial growth both creates specific health needs and institutionalizes solutions to these needs that are compatible with capital accumulation. The key mechanism in this institutionalization is the engineering model of modern scientific medicine, which transforms health needs into commodities for a specific economic market. When the state intervenes to cope with some health-related problems, it is bound to act so as to further commodify health needs, and without ameliorating the health status of the population.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
PowlesJ.On the limitations of modern medicine. Science, Medicine and Man1(1): 1–30, 1973.
2.
BoydenS. V.Cultural adaptation to biological maladjustment. In The Impact of Civilization on the Biology of Man, edited by BoydenS. V., (Proceedings of the Symposium of the Australian Academy of Sciences, Canberra, 1968.) University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1971.
3.
CochraneA. L.Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services. Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, London, 1972.
4.
DubosR.Mirage of Health: Utopias, Progress and Biological Change. Doubleday, New York, 1959.
5.
DubosR.The biology of civilization—With emphasis on perinatal influences. In The Impact of Civilization on the Biology of Man, edited by BoydenS. V., pp. 219–230. (Proceedings of the Symposium of the Australian Academy of Sciences, Canberra, 1968.) University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1971.
6.
HaggertyR. J.The boundaries of health care. The Pharos of Alpha Omega Alpha35(3): 106–111, 1972.
7.
IllichI.Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. Center for Intercultural Documentation, Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1974.
8.
McKeownT.LoweC. R.An Introduction to Social Medicine. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1966.
9.
McKeownT.A historical appraisal of the medical task. In Medical History and Medical Care: A Symposium of Perspectives, edited by McKeownT.McLachlanG., pp. 29–55. Oxford University Press, New York, 1971.
10.
PorterR. R.The contribution of the biological and medical sciences to human welfare. In Presidential Addresses of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Swansea Meeting, 1971, p. 95. (Quoted in PowlesJ., On the limitations of modern medicine. Science, Medicine and Man1(1): 1–30, 1973.).
11.
RoseG.Epidemiology of ischaemic heart disease. Br. J. Hosp. Med.7(3): 285–288, 1972. (Quoted in PowlesJ., On the limitations of modern medicine. Science, Medicine and Man1(1): 1–30, 1973.).
12.
DreitzelH. P., editor. The Social Organization of Health. Macmillan Company, New York, 1971.
13.
RossdaleM.Health in a sick society. New Left Review34: 82–90, 1965.
14.
HornJ. S.Away with All Pests: An English Surgeon in People's China. Monthly Review Press, New York, 1969.
15.
PeyrefitteA.Quand la Chine s'éveillera. … Librairiei Arthème Fayard, Paris, 1973.
16.
MacciocchiM.-A.De la Chine. Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1974.
17.
OffeC.Political authority and class structure: An analysis of late capitalist societies. International Journal of Sociology2(1): 73–108, 1972.
18.
OffeC.Advanced capitalism and the welfare state. Politics and Society2(4): 479–488, 1972.
19.
O'ConnorJ.The Fiscal Crisis of the State. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1973.
20.
WolfeA.New directions in the Marxist theory of politics. Politics and Society4(2): 131–159, 1974.
21.
AlfordR. R.Towards a Critical Sociology of Political Power: Political Sociology Versus Political Economy in the Theory of the State. Paper delivered at the meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 1973.
22.
Special Task Force to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Work in America, pp. 77–79. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1973.
23.
McKinlayJ. B.A Case for Refocussing Upstream: The Political Economy of Illness. Unpublished paper, Boston University, 1974.
24.
RenaudM.The Political Economy of the Quebec State Interventions in Health: Reform or Revolution? Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, Madison, forthcoming.
