“Interpreting American health politics through the lens of crisis rhetoric is one of the freshest, most innovative approaches ever. . . . [Hackey] shows the detrimental consequences of conducting policy debates in crisis rhetoric – something that others have pronounced upon in op-eds but never examined as fully.”

 –Deborah Stone, author of Policy Paradox: 

Health care in the United States has been described as a system in crisis since the late 1960s. Those seeking to improve the system have relied on the rhetoric of crisis to build support for their preferred remedies, to the point where the language and imagery of a health care crisis are now deeply embedded in contemporary politics and popular culture. In Cries of Crisis, Robert B. Hackey analyzes media coverage, political speeches, films, and television shows to demonstrate the role that language and symbolism have played in framing the health care debate, shaping policy making, and influencing public perceptions of problems in the health care system. Hackey proposes that reformers must embrace a new rhetorical strategy that links proposals to improve the system with deeply held American values such as equality and fairness.

Robert B. Hackey is a professor of health and policy management at Providence College and a visiting fellow at the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. He is the author of Rethinking Health Care Policy: The New Politics of State Regulation and other books.

 

 

$26.95x / paper / 192 pages / ISBN: 978-0-87417-977-4