TY - JOUR
T1 - Cancer and race
T2 - What they tell us about the emerging focus of health equity
AU - Wailoo, Keith
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by Duke University Press.
PY - 2017/10/1
Y1 - 2017/10/1
N2 - This article examines the history of concepts and frames (such as "equity" or "disparities") and how these frames have guided public policies and explanations about differences in health across the population. Considering the emblematic case of cancer, which has stimulated long and heated debate over social, economic, and biological causes, the article argues that the vocabularies of health reform are both semantic and also deeply political-framing different reform agendas. The article describes the evolvingUSdebate over the biological, social, or environmental origins of differential cancer mortality along lines of social difference and race, tracing important shifts and reversal over time. Through this analysis, the article explains how and why equity concerns have figured (sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly) in health reform discussions, often in tension with other frames. It examines howAmericans have used these frameworks to justify different kinds of action and inaction, concluding with a discussion of how these frameworks of "disparities" and "equity" should be understood today in scientific, political, and policy discourse.
AB - This article examines the history of concepts and frames (such as "equity" or "disparities") and how these frames have guided public policies and explanations about differences in health across the population. Considering the emblematic case of cancer, which has stimulated long and heated debate over social, economic, and biological causes, the article argues that the vocabularies of health reform are both semantic and also deeply political-framing different reform agendas. The article describes the evolvingUSdebate over the biological, social, or environmental origins of differential cancer mortality along lines of social difference and race, tracing important shifts and reversal over time. Through this analysis, the article explains how and why equity concerns have figured (sometimes implicitly, sometimes explicitly) in health reform discussions, often in tension with other frames. It examines howAmericans have used these frameworks to justify different kinds of action and inaction, concluding with a discussion of how these frameworks of "disparities" and "equity" should be understood today in scientific, political, and policy discourse.
KW - Cancer
KW - Health disparities
KW - Health equity
KW - Race
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029663244&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85029663244&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1215/03616878-3940441
DO - 10.1215/03616878-3940441
M3 - Article
C2 - 28663175
AN - SCOPUS:85029663244
SN - 0361-6878
VL - 42
SP - 789
EP - 801
JO - Journal of health politics, policy and law
JF - Journal of health politics, policy and law
IS - 5
ER -