Toward an Ethnography of the Uninsured: Gay Becker's Work in Progress
Author:
Sarah Horton - SARAH HORTON is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Montana. Her research examines the privatization of U.S. health care and regimes of governance and health in migrant farmworking communities.a
| Affiliation: | a University of Montana, |
DOI:
10.1080/01459740701619798
Publication Frequency:
4 issues per year
Subjects:
Anthropology - Soc Sci;
Medicine;
Formats available:
HTML
(English)
:
PDF
(English)
View Article:
View Article (PDF)
View Article (HTML)
Abstract
Gay Becker's following article on the uninsured, submitted to Medical Anthropology before her untimely death in January 2007, was innovative in placing the issue of the uninsured squarely at the heart of her analysis of the U.S. health care system. Becker's novel contribution lay in examining the lack of universal health care in the U.S. as a mode of governance that produced certain subjects—subjects whom the system trained to view themselves as undeserving of care. Interrogating the means by which such a system is normalized, she further showed how a fragmented and discontinuous health care safety net served to contain the problem of the uninsured by discouraging them from seeking necessary treatment.
|
| Keywords: chronic illness; citizenship and governance; ethnic minorities; uninsured; U.S. health care safety net |
| view references (14) |

Download Citation
CiteULike
Del.icio.us
BibSonomy
Connotea