Rethinking value construction in biomedicine and healthcare
Rethinking value construction in biomedicine and healthcare
Despite longstanding attempts to conceptualise and measure value in biomedicine and healthcare, there is no single agreed definition of what value is. Instead, and as such, value is often taken as given or constructed in economic terms. In this paper, we argue that taking the meaning of value as given, or reverting to technocratic or economic dimensions of value, obscures the non-technical and societal dimensions of value construction and operationalisation in healthcare and biomedical practices. Through a comparative study of five cases of biomedicine and healthcare, we aim to bring out the socioeconomic and political processes that make a thing valuable for society and its implications. Our contention is that a clearer understanding of what makes something valuable (or not) is the first step towards what socially reflexive and responsible valuing of biomedicine and healthcare ought to be.
Datta Burton, Saheli
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Kieslich, Katharina
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Paul, Katharina
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Samuel, Gabrielle
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Prainsack, Barbara
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Datta Burton, Saheli
b43ce31a-e250-49f5-9ed0-f4a94750164b
Kieslich, Katharina
9054183e-3fd2-4288-84df-8113473fd80f
Paul, Katharina
b1656f86-b8ea-4625-a870-78813177d5ba
Samuel, Gabrielle
66af6213-08de-4c0e-92c1-12083ec456e3
Prainsack, Barbara
e81e4ed0-6e28-4787-b92d-ac3d4ef6b722
Datta Burton, Saheli, Kieslich, Katharina, Paul, Katharina, Samuel, Gabrielle and Prainsack, Barbara
(2021)
Rethinking value construction in biomedicine and healthcare.
Biosocieties.
(doi:10.1057/s41292-020-00220-6).
Abstract
Despite longstanding attempts to conceptualise and measure value in biomedicine and healthcare, there is no single agreed definition of what value is. Instead, and as such, value is often taken as given or constructed in economic terms. In this paper, we argue that taking the meaning of value as given, or reverting to technocratic or economic dimensions of value, obscures the non-technical and societal dimensions of value construction and operationalisation in healthcare and biomedical practices. Through a comparative study of five cases of biomedicine and healthcare, we aim to bring out the socioeconomic and political processes that make a thing valuable for society and its implications. Our contention is that a clearer understanding of what makes something valuable (or not) is the first step towards what socially reflexive and responsible valuing of biomedicine and healthcare ought to be.
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Accepted/In Press date: 27 December 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 January 2021
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Local EPrints ID: 446243
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/446243
PURE UUID: c36f6c4d-b963-49af-9284-d9d5daa5219a
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Date deposited: 01 Feb 2021 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:13
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Author:
Saheli Datta Burton
Author:
Katharina Kieslich
Author:
Katharina Paul
Author:
Barbara Prainsack
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