Chemical Analysis of Urine for Life Insurance
The Construction of Reliability
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5187389 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Klasien Horstman (0000-0003-4048-4110, University of Limburg, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 57-78 |
| Publication date | 1997-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/016224399702200103 |
| OpenAlex | W1964430088 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 6 |
Medical expertise plays a major role in large-scale welfare arrangements, for example, in private insurance companies. It symbolizes the objectivity and reliability of the procedures of risk selection and legitimates the acceptance and rejection of clients. To understand "reliability" in this context, this article discusses the introduction of chemical urine analysis for life insurance examination between 1880 and 1920. The article argues that reliability of urine analysis is not an intrinsic characteristic of the technology and thus cannot serve as the explanation for the relevance of this technology as a means of risk selection. The construction of a "reliable technology" went hand in hand with the development of a standardized, uniform, and predictable performance of the test and an emergence of specific network-namely, a large-scale, bureaucratic insurance practice in which examination rooms of physicians became connected to the head offices of insurance companies by administrative means. During this process, the balance of power between medical examiners and insurance companies was reversed. Insurance compa nies depended on medicine for risk selection, but physicians increasingly had to act according to the rules set by life insurance companies
Actuarial science · Bureaucracy · Business · Insurance policy · Key person insurance · Life insurance · Political science · Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law
| Citations per year | 0.13 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2015 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |