Structural Violence

531 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Structural violence

In “On Suffering and Structural Violence: A View from Below,” Paul Farmer addresses the issues of power, violence and selective health care, within a class driven society. By examining these subjects from an anthropological perspective, Farmer is able to clearly demonstrate how class, economics, sexism, racism, and culture impact marginalized members of a civilization. Farmer’s book tells the story of a military man who was infected with AIDS, and the woman he transmitted the disease to through a sexual relationship. The woman died from AIDS, and the man was brutally tortured to death by fellow members of the military. Due to the prejudices in society, both the soldier and the woman did not receive the medical care they needed. Furthermore, the male soldier failed to receive …show more content…

This means that people were arbitrarily not receiving the medicine and care they needed. Farmer felt that was unconscionable and an affront to one’s basic rights. Moreover, he also felt that an individual’s “civil rights cannot really be defended if (their) social and economic rights are not” protected, too (Farmer 9). In other words, we cannot fully exercise our rights as citizens if we do not have social and economic equality. For instance, if some wealthy individuals receive heath care that is superior, while less influential patients receive inferior treatment, that is unjust and corrupt. Farmer strives to discover a way to progress towards more attainable social and economic rights so that public health care can be more widely available and effective. The author also raises the point that race and sex are large factors in why medicine is not distributed and produced the way it should be. Obviously, these factors need to be addressed when devising a public health care system that will give fair and uniform treatment to all its

Show More
Related

  • Henrietta Lacks Structural Analysis Essay

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to fully understand the significance of the life of Henrietta Lacks, one must first understand the nature of the historical moment in which she lived, and died. Henrietta Lacks was a poor, African American woman born in 1920; Henrietta lived in Clover, Virginia, on a tobacco farm maintained by many generations of relatives. This historical moment can best be understood when evaluated using a structural analysis; a structural analysis is an examination of multiple components which form an organization; structural analyses often focus on the goals and purpose of the organization in question. Henrietta and her family were greatly affected by structural violence, a type of systematic violence exerted via legislation and discrimination. Often following systematic violence is a separate type of violence, known as symbolic violence; this occurs when structural violence is viewed as normal based on media representation or popular

    Read More

  • Norman Daniels Views On Health Care

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    I find that Rawls’ Contract Theory and the “fair equality of opportunity” principle provide a convincing and logical argument for Daniels’ stance on the distribution of health care. On the other hand, for a utilitarian or a natural law theorist Daniels’ logic is contradicting nonetheless. Yet, it is still feasible for either of these theorists to support Daniels’ claim to the distribution of adequate health care to everyone. Despite my contradiction to Daniels’ logic leading to his claim, I concur to the societal right to adequate health

    Read More

  • Autonomy And Paternalism Essay

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rather, Buchanan proposed the field of public health to gain the public’s trust, needs to expand individual autonomy by promoting social justice while discussing the common portrayals of justice. The rationale behind Buchanan’s work is to bring understanding to an ethical issue of paternalism v. autonomy in public health. Paternalism can be justified given it protects the interest of the people and autonomy is an individual’s freedom from external control or influence. There are valid arguments for both sides, but in public health, paternalism is very useful situationally, while autonomy must be preserved and respected as it is an individual given right. Aiming for an ideal range where public health policy and individual freedom can overlap, no matter the inconsistencies, is the

    Read More

  • Health Disparities and Differences: An Analysis of U.S. Policy

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    The goal within the United States government is to treat each individual as an equal citizen. Unfortunately, through the inadequate practice of public policies people have been treated unequal because of natural conditions and the countries social environment. In health policy, the two concepts that cause unequal treatment are health disparities and health differences. Health disparities are resulted from social factors that are avoidable and unjust. For example, saying ovarian cancer death rates are higher because men have better research on prostate cancer (Smith, 2016). “The extent and nature of health disparities changes over the life course” (Adler, 2008, p. 241). Health differences are inherently biological being completely natural and

    Read More

  • Marginalization Essay

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Author, physician, and anthropologist Paul Farmer focuses on structural violence in his book Infections and Inequalities. Structural violence is not only today’s social and economic inequality, but also oppression and exploitation that is ongoing and has been occurring for generations. Current programs to alleviate inequality are important but many people don’t consider that marginalized people are not only marginalized today, but their families have been marginalized for centuries. People argue that it has been a certain number of years since slavery and the civil rights, and are opposed to the continuation of programs to address disparities. Opposition to social programs such as welfare is widespread in America. But structural violence is not just about today’s staggering, undeniable, and increasing inequality, but about centuries of marginalization, that cannot be simply repaired. Structural violence is the exploitation and manipulation of poor or victimized people by powerful people and companies. A person’s lack of resources, both a cause and an effect of structural violence, is not only a lack of money, but also whether a government’s or health provider’s decides to make interventions available to some but not others, or to focus on prevention at the sake of cure.

    Read More

  • Survival Of The Rich In Paul Farmer's 'Pathologies Of Power'

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine you are born into an impoverish country where government officials take advantage of the poor and the struggle to make ends meet are no longer endurable. To what extent would you go to get out of poverty? In Paul Farmer’s Pathologies of Power, the stories of two Haitians, Acephie Joseph and Chouchou Louis exposed the injustice poor people faced in underprivileged country. In the chapter “On Suffering and Structural Violence” Farmer makes a valid and supportive argument on how those individuals were constrained by poverty and suffered structural violence. Paul farmer defines structural violence as continuously suffering inflicted on the poor by people of power such as government

    Read More

  • Summary Of Paul Farmer's Pathologies Of Power

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paul Farmer’s Pathologies of Power exposes the brutal realities many oppressed face and the core foundations responsible for those in destitution. He presents these harsh truths through personal stories that shock the reader into understanding the complexity and severity of the issue of healthcare. Poverty’s role is critical in that it may be the root cause of those afflicted with disease, but also prevents those from the needed treatment. Farmer radically calls for a change in healthcare delivery and overall calls for a change that will address and irradiate poverty along with structural inequality.

    Read More

  • Institutional Violence Research Paper

    324 Words  | 1 Pages

    It began as a typically senseless prison fight: a knot of inmates scuffling in a crowded corridor at the Clinton state prison over a piece of candy on the floor.

    Read More

  • kk

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... person, the rights to vote, to hold public office, to be treated in accordance with the rule of law, and so on. The principle ascribes these rights and liberties to all citizens equally.” Consequently, this means that our institutions are not giving equal treatment to others. Teleologically, it gets away from the main purpose of medicine itself which is to help and save people. We are placing the value of money over the value of human life. This is the wrong at stake here. We are dehumanizing people. Furthermore, since”leaving one's society is not a realistic option for most people” we have created a society that habituates institutional racism. We isolate communities to create habitual social problems that consist of drugs, violence, and a plethora of other ones. This is the moral context that is at stake when we discuss the fundamentals of institutional racism.

    Read More

  • Racial Disparities in the United States Health Care System

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ity, as well as inequalities in education, employment, and housing, all contribute to health discrepencies. Health care reform, as envisioned within the ACA, should be viewed as treatment of the symptoms of an unequal system, not treatment of the cause. To speak metaphorically, America has a pre-existing condition of institutional racism. Capitalist structure, political climate and discourse, and notions of imperialism, deny treatment. The Affordable Care Act addresses this condition as a localized disease, rather than a systemic one, that’s cause is rooted in the hegemonic reproduction of ideological superstructures. Only when health care is treated as a basic right, rather than an economic commodity, and health disparites are recognized in a greater political context, can health reform offer an opportunity to overcome racial disparities and achieve health equity.

    Read More

  • Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The only real nation is humanity” (Farmer 123). This quote represents a huge message that is received in, Tracy Kidder’s, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book argues that universal healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Kidder’s book also shows the audience that every individual, no matter what the circumstances, is entitled to receive quality health care. In the book Kidder represents, Paul Farmer, a man who spends his entire life determined to improve the health care of impoverished areas around the world, namely Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. By doing this the audience learns of the horrible circumstances, and the lack of quality health care that nations like Haiti live with everyday, why every person has the right to healthcare no matter what, and how cost effectiveness should not determine whether or not these people get to live or die. Two texts that also argue this idea are Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right,” and Darshak Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” Leach’s article is an interview with Benjamin Crème that illustrates why food, shelter, education, and healthcare are human rights that have to be available to everyone. He shares many of the same views on health care as Farmer, and the two also share similar solutions to this ongoing problem. Leach also talks about the rapidly growing aids epidemic, and how it must be stopped. Like farmer, he also argues that it is easier to prevent these diseases then to cure them. Furthermore, Sanghavi’s article represents many of the questions that people would ask about cost effectiveness. Yet similar to Farmer’s views, Sanghavi argues that letting the poor d...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Cultural Competency In Health And Health Care

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    Seeking to position lower socioeconomic status above racial/ethnic biases or vice versa is irresponsible to the goal of eliminating healthcare delivery differences at large. Both these are realities of a group of people who are not receiving the same level of care from the healthcare professionals although they exist within one of the most resource rich countries in the world, the United States. According to House & Williams (2000), “racism restricts and truncates socioeconomic attainment” (page, 106). This alone will hinder good health and spur on disparities as racism reduces the level of education and income as well as the prospect of better jobs. Blacksher (2008) cites the nation’s institutionalized racism as one of the leading factors

    Read More

  • Bioviolence And Structural Violence

    2268 Words  | 5 Pages

    The society we live in today experiences severe global inequality and a huge disparity between the rights accorded to all human beings. An increasing polarization between the rich and the poor and the commercialization of health has resulted in a diverse exploitation of individuals. Social structures inflict harm on the lower vulnerable sections of society in the form of physical, psychological, social, and economic damage. The pivotal cause factor for these avoidable structural inequalities is the unequal distribution of power. This phenomenon of structural violence inhabits our society in various forms. Living in today’s world where individuals are increasingly affected by infectious diseases, infertility, organ loss and nerve damage, it

    Read More

  • Healthcare Coverage: Unequal based on Wealth

    1951 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Unfortunately, there is no magical switch that can be flipped to have healthcare equality in the United States overnight, but over time with a public healthcare program we can ensure that everyone is given the same basic care and continue working toward healthcare equality. Works Cited Liz, S. (n.d.) - "The 'St Hospital inequalities widen the care gap.

    Read More

  • Structural Violence

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    Structural violence is the way in which a social structure will harm people by not providing, by limiting or by barring people from receiving basic needs. Structural violence impacts people on the bottom rung of society. People who live in poverty or are not considered being of a high social standing. This could be because of a person’s age, sex, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, or any other aspect that makes them different from the majority of the population or different from what people consider to be the norm. However, structural violence does not necessarily need the majority of the population to define it, it can manifest by a few people in the country or out making decisions for the populace.

    Read More

More about Structural Violence

Open Document