Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Health and the Social Rights of Citizenship: Integrating Welfare-State Theory and Medical Sociology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

Social scientists have long been interested in the link between societal processes and individual outcomes. The founders of sociology were interested in how social integration affected suicide rates (Durkheim 1951 [1897]), how the social organization of labor relations impacted worker experience (Marx and Engels 1964 [1848]), how religious principles translated into individuals’ work ethics (Weber 1930), how modern society impacted mental health (Simmel 1950), how mental health institutions shaped individual inmates (Goffman 1961) or how the social system impacted health care utilization (Parsons 1951). All addressed issues of health, illness, and healing in one way or another, yet medical sociologists have tended to pay less attention to the distal forces of societal-level institutions, focusing instead on the more proximate micro- and meso-level determinants of individual health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    By health, we are referring to both physical and mental health.

  2. 2.

     Welfare state researchers have suggested different categorization of nations, including classifying Australia and New Zealand as a wage-earner regime (Huber and Stephens 2001). They have also pointed out that the Esping-Andersen scheme is problematic when gender is considered (Orloff 1993; O’Connor et al. 1999).

  3. 3.

    These figures are based on the Gini-Coefficient, one of the most widely used measures for income inequality. These numbers are provided by the World Bank.

  4. 4.

    NHS refers to Beveridge, Centralized to Semashko, and Insurance to Bismarck.

  5. 5.

    It may of course be more likely to happen to some individuals, as compared to others, and relates to broader inequalities (e.g., class, race, and gender) in society. Yet, we argue that it is one of the few outcomes that can be viewed as potentially affecting all citizens, across all nations.

  6. 6.

    National media discourses are an important indicator of the overarching cultural and political context and they both reflect and create public opinions and reactions toward various social problems (Gamson and Modigliani 1989).

References

  • Alderson AS, Nielsen F (2002) Globalization and the great U-turn: income inequality trends in 16 OECD countries. Am J Sociol 107:1244–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amenta E, Bonastia C, Caren N (2001) US Social Policy in Comparative and Historical Perspective: Concepts, Images, Arguments, and Research Strategies. Annu Rev Soc 27:213–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson GF, Poullier JP (1999) Health Spending, Access, and Outcomes: Trends in Industrialized Countries. Health Aff 18(3):178–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson OW (1972) Health Care: Can there be Equity? The United States, Sweden, and England. New York, NY: Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • AndreĂź H-J, Heien T (2001) Four Worlds of Welfare State Attitudes? A Comparison of Germany, Norway, and the United States. European Soc Rev 17(4):337–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Angel R, Thoits PA (1987) The Impact of Culture on the Cognitive Structure of Illness. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 6:465–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky A (1972) A Model to Explain Visits to the Doctor: With Specific Reference to the Case of Israel. J Health and Soc Behav 13(4):446–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Beckfield J (2004) Does Income Inequality Harm Health? New Cross-national Evidence. J Health and Soc Behav 45:231–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkman LF, Glass T, Brissette I, Seeman TE (2000) From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium. Soc Sci Med 51:843–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi S, Cohen PN, Raley S, Nomaguchi K (2004) Inequality in parental investment in child-rearing: expenditures, time, and health. In: Neckerman K (ed) Social inequality. Russell Sage, New York, pp 149–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu P (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady D (2003) The politics of poverty: left political institutions, the welfare state and poverty. Soc Forces 82:557–588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brady D (2005) The welfare state and relative poverty in rich western democracies, 1967–1997. Soc Forces 83:1329–1364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brady D, Beckfield J, Seeleib-Kaiser M (2005) Economic globalization and the welfare state in affluent democracies, 1975–1998. Am Sociol Rev 70:921–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks C, Manza J (2006) Social Policy Responsiveness in Developed Democracies. Am Sociol Rev 71(3):474–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooks C, Manza J (2007) Why welfare states persist: the importance of public opinion in democracies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Burstein P (1991) Policy domains: organization, culture, and policy outcomes. Annu Rev Sociol 17:327–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castles FG (2004) The future of the welfare state: crisis myths and crisis realities. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JL (2002) Ideas, Politics, and Public Policy. Annu Rev Sociol 28:21–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Cockerham WC (1995) Medical Sociology (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall

    Google Scholar 

  • Conley D, Springer K (2001) The welfare state and infant mortality. Am J Sociol 106:768–807

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio P (1997) Culture and Cognition. Ann Rev Sociol 23:263–287

    Google Scholar 

  • DiPrete TA (2002) Life Course Risks, Mobility Regimes, and Mobility Consequences: A Comparison of Sweden, Germany, and the United States. Am J Sociol 108(2):267–309

    Google Scholar 

  • DiPrete TA, Eirich GM (2006) Cumulative Advantage as a Mechanism for Inequality: A Review of Theoretical and Empirical Developments. Annu Rev Sociol 32(1):271–297

    Google Scholar 

  • DiPrete TA, McManus PA (2000) Family Change, Employment Transitions, and the Welfare State: Household Income Dynamics in the United States and Germany. Am Sociol Rev 65(3):343–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Durkheim E (1987/1951) Suicide: a study in sociology. The Free Press, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen G (1990) Three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen G (1999) Social foundations of postindustrial economies. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen G, Gallie D, Hemerijck A, Myles J (2002) Why We Need a New Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Fligstein N (2001) The architecture of markets. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Furedi F (2006) The End of Professional Dominance. Society 43(6):14–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamson WA, Modigliani A (1989) Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach. Am J Sociol 95(1):1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Giaimo Susan (2001) Who pays for health care reform? In: Pierson P (ed) The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 334–367

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Goesling B, Firebaugh G (2004) The trend in international health inequality. Popul Dev Rev 30:131–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman E (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates ([1st ] ed.). Garden City, N.Y.,: Anchor Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodin RE, Headey B, Muffels R, Dirven H-J (1999) The real worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin S (1997) Comparative Mental Health Policy: From Institutional to Community Care. London, UK: Sage Publications

    Google Scholar 

  • Grusky David (2001) The past, present, and future of social inequality. In: Grusky D (ed) Social stratification: race, class, and gender in sociological perspective. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, pp 1–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacker J (1997) The road to nowhere. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hacker J (2002) The divided welfare state: the battle over public and private social benefits in the United States. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall PA, Soskice D (eds) (2001) Varieties of capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes BC, Heuvel AV (1996) Government Spending on Health Care: A Cross-National Study of Public Attitudes. J Health and Soc Policy 7:61–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks A (1999) Social democracy and welfare capitalism: a century of income security politics. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks AM, Swank DH (1992) Politics, Institutions, and Welfare Spending in Industrialized Democracies, 1960–82. Am Political Sci Rev 86(3):658–674

    Google Scholar 

  • Hout M (2003) Money and morale: what growing inequality is doing to Americans’ views of themselves and others. Unpublished manuscript

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber E, Stephens JD (2001) Development and crisis of the welfare state. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Iglehart JK (1991) Germany’s Health Care System. New England J Medicine 324(24):1750–1756

    Google Scholar 

  • Immergut EM (1990) Institutions, Veto Points, and Policy Results: A Comparative Analysis of Health Care. J Public Policy 10(04):391–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen T (2005) Capitalism, democracy, and welfare. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jameson F (1998) The cultural turn: Selected Writings on the Postmodern, 1983–1998. London, UK: Verso

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz MB (1986) In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America. New York, NY: Basic Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz MB (1989) The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare. New York, NY: Pantheon Books

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenworthy L (1999) Do social-welfare policies reduce poverty? A cross-national assessment. Soc Forces 77:1119–1140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenworthy L (2004) Egalitarian capitalism: jobs, income and growth in affluent countries. Russell Sage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kikuzawa S, Olafsdottir S, Pescosolido BA (2008) Similar Pressures, Different Contexts: Public Attitudes toward Government Intervention for Health Care in 21 Nations. J Health and Soc Behav 49:385–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman A (1988) Rethinking Psychiatry: From Cultural Category to Personal Experience. New York, NY: Free Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Korpi W, Palme J (1998) The paradox of redistribution and strategies of equality: welfare state institutions, inequality, and poverty in the Western countries. Am Sociol Rev 63:661–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krieger N (1994) Epidemiology and the Web of Causation: Has Anyone Seen the Spider. Soc Sci Med 39:889–903

    Google Scholar 

  • Krieger N (2001) Theories for social epidemiology in the 21st century: an ecosocial perspective. Int J Epidemiol 30:668–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunst AE, Bos V, Lahelma E, Bartley M, Lissau I, Regidor E, et al. (2005) Trends in Socioeconomic Inequalities in Self-Assessed Health in 10 European Countries. Internat J Epidem 34(2):295–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahelma E, Kivelä K, Roos E, Tuominen T, Dahl E, Diderichsen F, et al. (2002) Analysing Changes of Health Inequalities in the Nordic Welfare States. Soc Sci Med 55(4):609–625

    Google Scholar 

  • Lassey ML, Lassey WR, Jinks MJ (1997) Health Care Systems around the World: Characteristics, Issues, Reforms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee RPL (1982) Comparative Studies of Health Care Systems. Soc Sci Med 16:629–642

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee C-S (2005) The social bases and outcomes of welfare states in the era of globalization and post-industrial economy. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of North Carolina

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipset SM (1997) American exceptionalism: a double-edged sword. W.W. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch J, Smith GD, Harper S, Hillemeier M, Ross N, Kaplan GA, et al. (2004) Is Income Inequality a Determinant of Population Health? Part 1. A Systematic Review. Milbank Quarterly 82(1):5–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Macinko JA, Shi LY, Starfield B (2004) Wage inequality, the health system, and infant mortality in wealthy industrialized countries, 1970–1996. Soc Sci Med 58(2):279–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx K, Engels F (1964) The Communist Manifesto. New York, NY: Washington Square Press

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod JD, Nonnemaker JM (2000) Poverty and Child Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Racial/Ethnic Differences in Processes and Effects. J Health Soc Behav 41(2):137–161

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod JD, Shanahan MJ (1993) Poverty, Parenting, and Children’s Mental Health. Am Sociol Rev 58(3):351–366

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod JD, Shanahan MJ (1996) Trajectories of Poverty and Children’s Mental Health. J Health Soc Behav 37(3):207–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Mechanic D (1996) Comparative Medical Systems. Annu Rev Soc 22:239–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer JW, Boli J, Thomas GM, Ramirez FO (1997) World society and the nation-state. Am J Sociol 103:144–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moller S, Bradley D, Huber E, Nielsen F, Stephens JD (2003) Determinants of relative poverty in advanced capitalist democracies. Am Sociol Rev 68:22–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Navarro V (1989) Why Some Countries have National Health Insurance, Others have National Health Services, and the U.S. has Neither. Soc Sci Med 28(9):887–898

    Google Scholar 

  • Neckerman KM (ed) (2004) Social inequality. Russell Sage, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Neckerman KM, Torche F (2007) Inequality: Causes and Consequences. Ann Rev Sociol 33(1):335–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Orloff A (1993) Gender and the social rights of citizenship: the comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states. Am Sociol Rev 58:303–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor JS, Orloff AS, Shaver S (1999) States, Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism, and Social Policy in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Olafsdottir S (2007) Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland. J Health Soc Behav 48:239–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Olafsdottir S (2010) Medicalization and Mental Health: The Critique of Medical Expansion, and a Consideration of how National States, Markets, and Citizens Matter. In D. Pilgram, A. Rogers & B. A. Pescosolido (Eds.), Handbook of Mental Health and Mental Disorder: Perspectives from Social Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olafsdottir S, Pescosolido BA (2009) Drawing the Line: The Cultural Cartography of Utilization Recommendations for Mental Health Problems. J Health Soc Behav 50:228–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Pampel FC (2001) The institutional context of population change: patterns of fertility and mortality across high income nations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons T (1951) The Social System. Glencoe, IL: Free Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson JT (1994) America’s Struggle against Poverty in the Twentieth Century, 1900-1994 (New ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescosolido BA (1991) Illness Careers and Network Ties: A Conceptual Model of Utilization and Compliance. In G. Albrecht (Ed.), Advances in Medical Sociology (Vol. 2, pp. 164–181). Greenwich: JAI Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescosolido BA (1992) Beyond Rational Choice: The Social Dynamics of How People Seek Help. Am J Sociol 97:1096–1138

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescosolido BA, Carol A, Boyer, Wai Ying Tsui (1985) Medical Care in the Welfare State: A Cross-National Study of Public Evaluations. J Health Soc Behav 26:276–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Pescosolido BA, Olafsdottir S, Martin JK, Long JS (2008) Cross-Cultural Issues on the Stigma of Mental Illness. In J. Arboleda-Florez & N. Sartorius (Eds.), Understanding the Stigma of Mental Illness: Theory and Interventions (pp. 19–35). West Sussex, England: John Wiley and Sons

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson P (1994) Dismantling the welfare state? Reagan, Thatcher, and the politics of retrechment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson P (1996) The New Politics of The Welfare State. World Politics 48:143–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson P (2001) The New Politics of the Welfare State. Oxford England Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Quadagno J (2004) Why the United States has no National Health Insurance. J Health Soc Behav, 45(Extra Issue) 25–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Quadagno JS (2005) One nation, uninsured: why the U.S. has no National Health Insurance. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross CE (1996) The Links Between Education and Health. Am Sociol Rev 60:719–745

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross CE (1994) Sex Stratification and Health Lifestyle: Consequences for Men’s and Women’s Perceived Health. J Health Soc Behav 35:161–178

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostila M (2007) Social Capital and Health in European Welfare Regimes: A Multilevel Approach. J European Soc Policy 17(3):223–239

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggie M (1992) The paradox of liberal intervention: health policy and the American welfare state. Am J Sociol 97:919–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simmel G (1950) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, IL: Free Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Steensland B (2006) Cultural Categories and the American Welfare State: The Case of Guaranteed Income Policy. Am J Sociol 111(5):1273–1326

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinmo S, Watts J (1995) It’s the Institutions, Stupid! Why Comprehensive National Health Insurance Always Fails in America. J Health Politics Policy Law 20(2):329–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens F (2001) The Convergence and Divergence of Modern Health Care Systems. In W. C. Cockerham (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology (pp. 158–179). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc

    Google Scholar 

  • Swidler A (1986) Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. Am Sociol Rev 51(2):273–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor-Gooby P (2004) New risks, new welfare: the transformation of the European welfare state. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber M (1930) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York, NY: Scribner

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilensky H (1975) The welfare state and equality: structural and ideological roots of public expenditures. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson RG (1996) Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality. London, UK: Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilensky H (2002) Rich democracies: political economy, public policy, and performance. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Boston University, 96 Cummington St., Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Sigrun Olafsdottir

Authors
  1. Sigrun Olafsdottir
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jason Beckfield
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sigrun Olafsdottir .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Bernice A. Pescosolido

  2. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Jack K. Martin

  3. Institute of Social Research, Indiana University, E. Third Street 1022, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, USA

    Jane D. McLeod

  4. , National Primary Care Research and Devel, The University of Manchester, Oxford Street, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

    Anne Rogers

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Olafsdottir, S., Beckfield, J. (2011). Health and the Social Rights of Citizenship: Integrating Welfare-State Theory and Medical Sociology. In: Pescosolido, B., Martin, J., McLeod, J., Rogers, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7261-3_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation