The invisibility of public health
Population-level measures in a politics of market individualism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11023458 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Scott Burri (0000-0002-6013-5842, Temple University, corresponding author), S Burris (0009-0002-1343-277X) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1607-1610 |
| Publication date | 1997-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048 |
| Publisher | American Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2105/ajph.87.10.1607 |
| PMID | 9357340 |
| OpenAlex | W2075540830 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 21 |
This paper models the prevailing political attack on government as a heuristic, a judgmental strategy that simplifies complex phenomena by applying simple tests to a limited set of relevant data. The heuristic of market individualism offers three tools for analyzing the problems of governing: the supremacy of the free market as a regulatory device, a belief in individual freedom of choice and personal responsibility, and the elevation of individual satisfaction as the chief goal of society. Because public health is inherently concerned with the health of the population rather than individual health, because the market itself is a major source of ill health, and because individual choice is socially mediated, use of the heuristic precludes the recognition of the value of public health work. Although some degree of accommodation to current political realities is a practical necessity, public health advocates must not neglect the task of fashioning radically different alternative visions over the long term
Economics · Government (linguistics) · Individualism · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Population · Positive economics · Public economics · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology · Law · Medicine · Public Health Policies and Education
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| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,18 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2024 (27) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |