Was Mackenbach right? Towards a practical political science of redistribution and health inequalities

Schrecker, Ted

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.06.007

Was Mackenbach right? Towards a practical political science of redistribution and health inequalities

Schrecker, Ted

Authors

Ted Schrecker

Abstract

In 2010, Mackenbach reflected on England's lack of success in reducing health inequalities between 1997 and 2010, asserting that “it is difficult to imagine a longer window of opportunity for tackling health inequalities”; asking “[i]f this did not work, what will?”; and concluding that reducing health inequalities was not politically feasible at least in that jurisdiction. Exploring the empirics of that observation offers a window into the politics of reducing health inequalities. For purposes of future comparative research, I outline three (not mutually exclusive) perspectives on political feasibility, identify their implications for a political science of health inequalities, and explore what they mean for advocacy in support of reducing those inequalities.

Citation

Schrecker, T. (2017). Was Mackenbach right? Towards a practical political science of redistribution and health inequalities. Health & Place, 46, 293-299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.06.007

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jun 22, 2017
Online Publication Date	Jul 6, 2017
Publication Date	Jul 6, 2017
Deposit Date	Jul 17, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Jan 6, 2019
Journal	Health & Place
Print ISSN	1353-8292
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	46
Pages	293-299
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.06.007

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2017 This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/