Suffering the

System: Professional
Dominance, the Uninsured, and
the Healthcare Industry

By: Stephanie Petty

Introduction
 Working class: Among the poorest classes in most social
class systems.
 Professional dominance: Performing a role that is in high
demand while making a relatively high-self profit for the
services performed.
 “The United States healthcare system is the third leading
cause of death, after heart disease cancer.” Starfield
(2000:483)
 40 million people in the US without healthcare (2007)
Thesis

 The purpose of this study on the working class and the

poor, as it pertains to treatment and access to
healthcare, is to explore the unspoken and/or hidden
inequalities in the United States healthcare system.
Specifically, this analysis examines the income and
educational attainment of patients with regard to the
quality of care received.
Previous Literature
 Quality of Healthcare
-Dutton (1978)
-Nechas and Foley (1994)
-Frank-Green (2004)

 Knowledge and Education

-Light (2000)
-Nechas and Foley (1994)
-Anspach (1993)
Literature Review (contd.)
 Professional Dominance
 Light(2004)
 Malat (2001)
Social Construction Theory
 Donileen Loseke (2003)

 A social problem is not a stable category; rather its meaning is subjective.

 Claimsmaking occurs when a person or a group of people attempt to

persuade an audience that a particular problem exists.

 “risk society”

 Typifications help the audience understand the “typical” so that behavior or

events outside the typical are identified as a social problem.
Methodology
Survey on access to healthcare
and treatment by physicians

7 participants in the South Bend,

IN community

Hope Rescue Mission and Chapin

Street Health Clinic
Findings
 Educational background varied amongst participants.
 4 of the 7 participants were employed.
 All 7 participants were considered “working class” or
“poor.”
 All 7 participants seek medical attention approximately
every 3 months.
 Variance in timeliness of receiving medical attention.
Findings
Depends on
Yes No Don’t know the medical
problem
Do you feel
confident asking
your doctor
6/7 (85%) 1/7 (15%) 0/7 N/A
questions?
Do you think your
doctor discusses
all options for
4/7 (57%) 0/7 1/7 (15%) 2/7 (28%)
treatment?
Do you fear
challenging your
doctor’s advice?
1/7 (15%) 6/7 (85%) 0/7 N/A
Do you have the
option to change
your primary
4/7 (57%) 1/7 (15%) 2/7 (28%) N/A
doctor?
Miscellaneous Findings
Making Ends Meet
 The working class and poor populations are in high-risk,
low-paying jobs.

 The separation between hourly and salary-paying jobs.

 Social mobility

 The cost of treatment

Future Research
 Surveying different geographic areas

 Possibly interviewing or participant

observation

 Focusing more on race, age, gender, or

ethnicity
Questions????

The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases

is that there are physicians for the body and
physicians for the soul, although the two cannot
be separated. ~Plato