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The Cultural, Definitional, and Institutional Politics of Healthcare

Jennifer A. Reich

Annual Review of Sociology2025https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-090324-034627article
AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.41

Abstract

This review article examines how politics shape healthcare. In addition to formal law and policy, the politics of healthcare include the larger cultural frameworks that politicize health and illness, rendering some bodies visible while ignoring or erasing others, and the institutions that offer or deny healthcare services. This article highlights both the definitional politics, that is, the contests of power that set the frames of healthcare, and also the politics of implementation and practice that powerfully shape healthcare institutions and experiences. In doing so, this article considers how politics structure the interactions within healthcare systems and around health and illness, and how those engaged in these care relationships must navigate power and politics within these broader organizational and cultural structures.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-090324-034627

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@article{jennifer2025,
  title        = {{The Cultural, Definitional, and Institutional Politics of Healthcare}},
  author       = {Jennifer A. Reich},
  journal      = {Annual Review of Sociology},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-090324-034627},
}

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The Cultural, Definitional, and Institutional Politics of Healthcare

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.