Social Work or Social Control? The Political Economy of Health
The last few decades have seen a boom in globalization and the spread of the capitalist economic system across the world. Deeply and intimately intertwined with this capitalist system are the hegemonic cultural beliefs and social structures that back it up, deeming it “common sense” or the “only way” of doing things. If that fails, state structures such as policy and military can intervene, forcing individuals to conform or face the consequences. The political economy of health aids in the reproduction and continuation of these hegemonic beliefs using science and technology as a means of legitimizing actions and controlling populations. In this paper I will use various theoretical frameworks of the political economy of health to argue that capitalism and biomedicine are in a dialectical relationship in which each one creates the conditions necessary to perpetuated the other. The greatest determinant of health of a p...