State and the sick role: a study of sick models in the pre-reform China

Yang, J

State and the sick role: a study of sick models in the pre-reform China

Yang, J

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Social Theory and Health, 2019
Issue Date:: 2019-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Yang, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7507-6929	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-07-31T19:19:44Z
dc.date.issued	2019-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Social Theory and Health, 2019	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1477-8211	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/135291
dc.description.abstract	© 2019, Springer Nature Limited. This study revisited the sick role theory and proposed that the doctor–patient dyadic system be expanded to include state as a major actor to extend the applicability of the theory to other political systems. I argue that state not only exercises coercive power in the social control mechanism, but also practices persuasion in the socialisation mechanism. Drawing on evidence from China, the paper notes that the establishment of the state medicine in the 1950s and 1960s significantly changed illness behavioural patterns of the people covered by public health insurances. To counteract abuse of health insurance and secondary gains, the Chinese Party-state propagated official sick role expectations and norms through sick models—sick persons who thought and behaved as the Party-state expected. Two types of sick models were identified: the cooperative and the ‘defiant’. These models were propagated to serve the Party-state’s political and economic agenda.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Social Theory and Health	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1057/s41285-019-00114-z	en_US
dc.title	State and the sick role: a study of sick models in the pre-reform China	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services	en_US
utslib.for	1601 Anthropology	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2019, Springer Nature Limited. This study revisited the sick role theory and proposed that the doctor–patient dyadic system be expanded to include state as a major actor to extend the applicability of the theory to other political systems. I argue that state not only exercises coercive power in the social control mechanism, but also practices persuasion in the socialisation mechanism. Drawing on evidence from China, the paper notes that the establishment of the state medicine in the 1950s and 1960s significantly changed illness behavioural patterns of the people covered by public health insurances. To counteract abuse of health insurance and secondary gains, the Chinese Party-state propagated official sick role expectations and norms through sick models—sick persons who thought and behaved as the Party-state expected. Two types of sick models were identified: the cooperative and the ‘defiant’. These models were propagated to serve the Party-state’s political and economic agenda.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/135291