Rising Markets and Failing Health: An Inquiry into Subaltern Health Care Consumption under Neoliberalism
Abstract
This research highlights some of the fundamental weaknesses in the market-based economic approach for a developing society. This study of health care consumption by subaltern groups in India reveals that consumers believe that greater reliance on a market-based system has contributed to a decline in the state health institutions, proliferation of private clinics, and a close physician—pharmaceutical firm nexus. Accordingly, instead of creating a more efficient system of health care delivery, market forces are instrumental in marginalization of the subaltern sections of the population. Ramifications of these findings include a suggested expansion in quality of life marketing framework to include the concept of consumer empowerment with specific emphases on dimensions of control and exclusion.