PMID: 640765Jan 1, 1978Paper

Health and labor-power: a theoretical investigation

International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation
A Schatzkin

Abstract

In this historical materialist analysis of health and medical care, health is defined as a component of labor-power (capacity to work). Investment in health, including provision of medical services, represents part of the cost of maintaining the labor force. The primary determined of the level of health and medical care under capitalism is the tendency toward maximization of the rate of exploitation. The absolute level of health and medical care tends to decline as unemployment rises and individual workers become more "replaceable." Health differentials by socioeconomic status are similarly explained by the easier replacement of lesser-skilled workers. Medical care services in the context of the capitalist system constitute a drain on surplus-value. In periods of economic decline, attempts are made to conserve surplus-value through reductions in medical services ("social wages"). Institutional and ideological racism yields additional surplus-value savings and weakness public resistance to medical care retrenchment. The profits of health-related industries are shown to be merely partially recouped surplus-value losses. The social epidemiology of capitalism has been characterized as social murder. "Public health" measures appropr...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 1, 1980·Social Science & Medicine. Medical Anthropology·T O Pearce
Jan 1, 1983·The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. La Revue Canadienne De Sociologie Et D'anthropologie·V Walters
Jan 1, 1984·International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation·P Juffermans
Jan 1, 1982·International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation·R Cooper, A Schatzkin
Jan 1, 1986·International Journal of Health Services : Planning, Administration, Evaluation·M L Schwalbe, C L Staples
Jan 1, 1982·The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology. La Revue Canadienne De Sociologie Et D'anthropologie·V Walters

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