Political economy of hope as a cultural facet of biomedicalization
A qualitative examination of constraints to hospice utilization among U.S. end-stage cancer patients
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7217836 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Hammad Mrig (0000-0003-4338-633X, University of Colorado Denver, corresponding author), Karen Lutfey Spencer (0000-0003-2975-8125, University of Colorado Denver) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 200 |
| Pages | 107-113 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-28 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science & Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.033 |
| PMID | 29421457 |
| OpenAlex | W2791801970 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 36 |
A growing body of social science literature is devoted to describing processes of biomedicalization. The issue of biomedicalization is especially relevant for individuals suffering from end-stage cancer and hoping that aggressive end-of-life interventions, which are riddled with uncertainty around quantity or quality of life, will produce a 'cure'. To examine hospice underutilization among end-stage cancer patients, we apply the anthropological concept 'political economy of hope,' which describes how personal and collective 'hope' is associated with the political and economic structures that produce biomedicalization processes. Previous studies have examined hospice underutilization among end-stage cancer patients and have identified barriers stemming from patient and physician characteristics or health insurance reimbursement policies. Yet, these studies do not provide an organized synthesis of how barriers articulate, how they are part of the longitudinal decision-making process, or describe the sociocultural context surrounding hospice care enrollment decisions. This paper focuses on US-specific mechanisms and is based on qualitative, in-depth, interviews with physicians at an academic hospital (N = 24). We find that hospice underutilization results from a web of interconnected constraints surrounding end-stage cancer patients. Our research reveals how hospice care contradicts the political and economic structures associated with end-stage cancer care and illustrates how end-stage cancer patients are transformed into a form of biovalue, a fundamental commodity sustaining the political economy of hope
Business · Commodity · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Health care · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Public relations · Qualitative research · Reimbursement · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · History · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Patient Dignity and Privacy · Psychology · Finance
Capitalizing on change
Shades of hope
“The medicine is the easy part”
Unpacking gatekeeping in medical institutions
Collusion in the Clinic
Unsettling disciplinary frontiers
Extending the case for a "health disparities research industrial complex"
Transforming Patient Compliance Research in an Era of Biomedicalization
What Can Alcohol Reduction 'Do' for/in Midlife Women's Hopes? A Qualitative Study in Australia
Buying Time
Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques
One last round of chemo? Insights from conversations between oncologists and lung cancer patients about prognosis and treatment decisions
Death and the treatment imperative
Invoking death
A political economy of hope
The words we die by
Revisiting the Biomedicalization of Aging
American oncology and the discourse on hope
A Qualitative Investigation of Cross-domain Influences on Medical Decision Making and the Importance of Social Context for Understanding Barriers to Hospice Use
The Political Economy of Hope
Biomedicalization
Stem Cells, Tissue Cultures and the Production of Biovalue
Hope Logics
Recursive Health Care Structures and Choice in the Manner of Our Dying
The meaning of the survivor identity for women with breast cancer
Shifting Tenses
Theory Construction in Qualitative Research
The end of life and the family
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |