HLST 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Trade Union
Document Summary
Public policies are simply decisions made by the government. Moreover, social determinants of health such as income, housing, food and etc all influence health. So, the public policies enforced by government influence the quality of the social determinants of health. This chapter focuses on why higher authorities employ public policies that support social determinants of health and others do not. Bryant examines the situation by looking at the social, economic and political forces that shape public policy in canada and other western countries. A few examples of these forces that influence public policies are spending on transfers, poverty rates, welfare state, the labour union and etc. She stresses in numerous occasions how political-economy approaches concentrate on how markets, economics and political ideology which directly are related and influence the nature of public policy. Bryant argues that actions and decisions made by government in public policy sector are not usually considered too strongly influence the health and well being of populations.