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Disease Politics and Medical Research Funding

Three Ways Advocacy Shapes Policy

Bibliographic Data

ID4522040
AuthorsRachel Kahn Best (0000-0002-9372-1792, University of Michigan, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume77
Issue5
Pages780-803
Publication date2012-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0003122412458509
OpenAlexW2099603975
LanguageEN
Citations received56
References cited109

In the 1980s and 1990s, single-disease interest groups emerged as an influential force in U.S. politics. This article explores their effects on federal medical research priority-setting. Previous studies of advocacy organizations' political effects focused narrowly on direct benefits for constituents. Using data on 53 diseases over 19 years, I find that in addition to securing direct benefits, advocacy organizations have aggregate effects and can systemically change the culture of policy arenas. Disease advocacy reshaped funding distributions, changed the perceived beneficiaries of policies, promoted metrics for commensuration, and made cultural categories of worth increasingly relevant to policymaking

Disease · Interest group · Medical research · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Law · Medicine · Policy Transfer and Learning · Public Administration

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Unique citing works56
Citations per year4
Citation span2012 - 2026 (15)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 56
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