PARADIGMS IN THE STUDY OF HEALTH POLICY |
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| Authors: | Elianne Riska |
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| Institution: | ELIANNE RISKA (Ph.D., SUNY at Stony Brook) is Associate Professor at Michigan State University, Department of Sociology and College of Human Medicine. Dr. Riska's research and publications have focused primarily on American health policy and its politics at the local level. She has also published articles on American medical education, its history and current developments. |
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| Abstract: | This essay identifies and analyzes four different paradigms in the study of problems in the American health system. The paradigms, which are labelled the individual–deficiency, the economic, the organizational, and the Marxist perspective, are examined as “diagnostic paradigms” according to the way in which problems are conceptualized and the way in which remedial strategies are chosen. The essay shows the differences and similarities between characteristic diagnoses and policy solutions within the four perspectives. It is argued that such paradigms can easily be identified in recent health reform proposals. |
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