Healthcare Activism
Klaus Hoeyer, Henriette Langstrup
Abstract
What is the role of civil society and activists in defining and defending the collective good in healthcare, especially in cases where that good seems to be heavily shaped by market dynamics? Presenting conceptual and empirical studies from a variety of healthcare contexts and theoretical perspectives, this book volume addresses this vital question by drawing together multi-disciplinary scholarship from science and technology studies, sociology, organization studies, marketing, and public health. The volume maps three major changes in healthcare over the past decades: the advent of personalized medicine, the marketization of public care systems, and the digitalization of healthcare services. It illustrates the extent to which these are interlinked to produce a seemingly unstoppable move toward individualization in healthcare, highlights the tensions and challenges arising from these interlinkages, and traces how activists react to these tensions to argue for and defend the common good. The volume thus sketches a multi-faceted picture of healthcare activism in the twenty-first century as civil society responds to these dynamics at the crossroads of markets and morals, economic and social justifications, individual and collective, and digital and non-digital worlds. Importantly, the volume also starts to sketch potential solutions for heightening patient voices and broadening participation in healthcare markets in a post-Covid-19 world.