The Second Sickness: Contradictions of Capitalist Health Care: Contradictions of Capitalist Health Care

Since the appearance of Waitzkin's The Second Sickness, a landmark book of the 1980s, American medicine has been dramatically transformed. Waitzkin's earlier edition used qualitative research to take readers inside the _black box_ of medical decision making. This new, fully updated and expanded edition retains the earlier edition's vivid approach and adds timely analysis of how managed care and other economic and social forces influence medical practice today. Booknews Presents a Marxist-oriented analysis of the contradictions in society that form the basis of problems in the health-care systems. Discusses structures of oppression and the social origins of illness, which have emerged as even greater problems as corporate penetration of health care has increased. Examines issues of technology and profit, then sets out lessons from Chile and Cuba and reform recommendations. This second edition takes into account changes since in the situation since the first edition was published in 1983. The author is professor and director at the Division of Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Dedication Epigraph Contents List of Figures and Tables Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition and Acknowledgments Part One: Medicine, Social Structure, and Social Pathology 1. Health Care, Social Contradictions, and the Dilemmas of Reform 2. Social Structures of Medical Oppression 3. The Social Origins of Illness: A Neglected History Part Two: Problems in Contemporary Health Care 4. Technology, Health Costs, and the Structure of Private Profit 5. Social Medicine and the Community 6. The Micropolitics of the Doctor-Patient Relationship Part Three: Policy, Practice, and Social Change 7. Medicine and Social Change: Lessons from Chile and Cuba 8. Conclusion: Health Praxis, Reform, and Political Struggle Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author This edition retains the ethnographic approach and adds analysis of how managed care and other economic and social forces influence medical practice in 2000.