Fighting for life: Health care and democracy in capitalist Poland

This paper discusses the social and political processes health care transformation in postcommunist Europe has involved in practice. It begins by suggesting a theoretical framework for the study of postcommunist welfare. Focusing on Poland, it examines what lies behind the frictions which have becom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical social policy 2011-02, Vol.31 (1), p.53-76
Main Author: Watson, Peggy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Class
Democracy
Democratization
Gender
Health care
Health care industry
Health care policy
Health Care Services
Health policy
Health services
Hospitals
Liberalization
Mass media effects
Medical service
Neoliberalism
Nurses
Poland
Policy Making
Post-communism
Post-communist societies
Postcommunist Societies
Privatization
Revolutions
Sex Differences
Social Class
Welfare
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Summary:This paper discusses the social and political processes health care transformation in postcommunist Europe has involved in practice. It begins by suggesting a theoretical framework for the study of postcommunist welfare. Focusing on Poland, it examines what lies behind the frictions which have become an integral feature of health care change, which most recently has centred on the privatization of hospitals. An empirically detailed interpretive analysis of the Polish nurses’ protests is put forward, drawing on interviews, protest bulletins, and official and media reports. The paper concludes that the liberalization and privatization currently in train can be seen as a contested ‘revolution from above’ in and through health care, and that the democratic potential offered by the protests has been subverted insofar as health care policy-making has itself become privatized.
ISSN:0261-0183
1461-703X
DOI:10.1177/0261018310385439