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Healthcare choice: Discourses, perceptions, experiences and practices

Gabe, Jonathan, Harley, Kirsten, Calnan, Michael .W. (2015) Healthcare choice: Discourses, perceptions, experiences and practices. Current Sociology, 63 (5). pp. 621-635. ISSN 0011-3921. E-ISSN 1461-7064. (doi:10.1177/0011392115590061) (KAR id:54213)

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Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011392115590061

Abstract

Policy discourse shaped by neoliberal ideology, with its emphasis on marketisation and competition, has highlighted the importance of choice in the context of healthcare and health systems globally. Yet, evidence about how so-called consumers perceive and experience healthcare choice is in short supply and limited to specific healthcare systems, primarily in the Global North. This special issue aims to explore how choice is perceived and utilised in the context of different systems of healthcare throughout the world, where choice, at least in policy and organisational terms, has been embedded for some time. The articles are divided into those emphasising: embodiment and the meaning of choice; social processes associated with choice; the uncertainties, risks and trust involved in making choices; and issues of access and inequality associated with enacting choice. These sociological studies reveal complexities not always captured in policy discourse and suggest that the commodification of healthcare is particularly problematic.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0011392115590061
Uncontrolled keywords: Choice; healthcare choice; health policy; health systems; neoliberalism
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Lisa Towers
Date Deposited: 16 Feb 2016 11:49 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:33 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/54213 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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