Overview

Drawing on a detailed case study of Scotland's National Health Service, this book argues that debates about citizen participation in health systems are disproportionately dominated by techniques of invited participation. A 'system's-eye' perspective, while often well-intentioned, has blinded us to other standpoints for understanding the complex relationship between publics and their health systems.   Publics and Their Health Systems takes a 'citizen's-eye' perspective, exploring not only conventional invited participation, but also the realms of representative democracy, contentious protest politics, and the micro-level tactics used by individual citizens in their encounters with health services. The book highlights more oppositional dynamics than those which characterise much invited participation, and argues that understanding these is a crucial step towards a more inclusive and democratic health system.

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9781137467164

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Reviews

Working at the boundaries between political science, science and technology studies and medical sociology, Stewart's book contributes to our understanding and conceptualising of the complex landscape of involvement activities. ... Publics and their Health Systems is a valuable resource for researchers studying public involvement or participation in health care, and provides an important broadening of focus for those working to put participation into practice. (Richard Milne, Sociology of Health and Illness, March, 2017) Stewart's book is the first monograph to map such a diversity of different forms of participation around one system. ... an excellent illustration of the value of mapping a particular system, quickly uncovering both its diversity and exclusions. ... This monograph demonstrates the value of the recent turn to whole systems or institutional studies of public participation. Rich empirical accounts such as this one will be vital to further theorising and attempts to intervene in these broader systems. (Helen Pallett, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk, May, 2016)

Stewart's book is the first monograph to map such a diversity of different forms of participation around one system. ... an excellent illustration of the value of mapping a particular system, quickly uncovering both its diversity and exclusions. ... This monograph demonstrates the value of the recent turn to whole systems or institutional studies of public participation. Rich empirical accounts such as this one will be vital to further theorising and attempts to intervene in these broader systems. (Helen Pallett, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk, May, 2016)

Author Information

Ellen Stewart is Research Fellow in the Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, UK. She holds a Chief Scientist Office Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate public protests and evidence use in hospital closure processes. She has previously worked at the University of St Andrews, UK, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

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