IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v74y2012i6p812-821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How is health-related “deservingness” reckoned? Perspectives from unauthorized im/migrants in Tel Aviv

Author

Listed:
  • Willen, Sarah S.

Abstract

Do unauthorized im/migrants have a right to health? Do they deserve health care, or health protection, or access to the social determinants of good health? Are they party to prevailing social contracts, or does their exclusion from mainstream systems of health promotion, prevention, and care “make sense”? Questions like these, which generate considerable attention in multiple spheres of scholarship, policy, and public debate, revolve around an issue that merits substantially greater consideration among social scientists of health: health-related “deservingness.” In addition to putting the issue of health-related deservingness squarely on the map as an object of analysis, this article further argues that we cannot focus solely on those with power, influence, and public voice. Rather, we also must investigate how deservingness is reckoned in relation to – and, furthermore, from the perspectives of – unauthorized im/migrants and members of other groups commonly constructed in public and policy discourse as undeserving. Additionally, we must consider the complicated relationship between universalizing juridical arguments about formal entitlement to health rights, on one hand, and situationally specific, vernacular moral arguments about deservingness, on the other.

Suggested Citation

  • Willen, Sarah S., 2012. "How is health-related “deservingness” reckoned? Perspectives from unauthorized im/migrants in Tel Aviv," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 812-821.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:6:p:812-821
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611003984
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.033?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen, Amartya, 2008. "Why and How Is Health a Human Right?," Scholarly Articles 3124128, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    2. Krieger, N. & Birn, A.-E., 1998. "A vision of social justice as the foundation of public health: Commemorating 150 years of the spirit of 1848," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(11), pages 1603-1606.
    3. Goldade, Kate & Okuyemi, Kolawole S., 2012. "Deservingness to state health services for South–South migrants: A preliminary study of Costa Rican providers’ views," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 882-886.
    4. Larchanché, Stéphanie, 2012. "Intangible obstacles: Health implications of stigmatization, structural violence, and fear among undocumented immigrants in France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 858-863.
    5. Gottlieb, Nora & Filc, Dani & Davidovitch, Nadav, 2012. "Medical humanitarianism, human rights and political advocacy: The case of the Israeli Open Clinic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 839-845.
    6. Olsen, Jan Abel & Richardson, Jeff & Dolan, Paul & Menzel, Paul, 2003. "The moral relevance of personal characteristics in setting health care priorities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 1163-1172, October.
    7. Chavez, Leo R., 2012. "Undocumented immigrants and their use of medical services in Orange County, California," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 887-893.
    8. Grove, Natalie J. & Zwi, Anthony B., 2006. "Our health and theirs: Forced migration, othering, and public health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1931-1942, April.
    9. Viladrich, Anahí, 2012. "Beyond welfare reform: Reframing undocumented immigrants’ entitlement to health care in the United States, a critical review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 822-829.
    10. Marrow, Helen B., 2012. "Deserving to a point: Unauthorized immigrants in San Francisco’s universal access healthcare model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 846-854.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Smith, Sarah A., 2016. "Migrant encounters in the clinic: Bureaucratic, biomedical, and community influences on patient interactions with front-line workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 49-56.
    2. Fleischman, Yonina & Willen, Sarah S. & Davidovitch, Nadav & Mor, Zohar, 2015. "Migration as a social determinant of health for irregular migrants: Israel as case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 89-97.
    3. Young, Maria-Elena De Trinidad & Perez-Lua, Fabiola & Sarnoff, Hannah & Plancarte, Vivianna & Goldman-Mellor, Sidra & Payán, Denise Diaz, 2022. "Working around safety net exclusions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study of rural Latinx immigrants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    4. Marrow, Helen B., 2012. "Deserving to a point: Unauthorized immigrants in San Francisco’s universal access healthcare model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 846-854.
    5. Berliner, Lauren S. & Kenworthy, Nora J., 2017. "Producing a worthy illness: Personal crowdfunding amidst financial crisis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 233-242.
    6. Huschke, Susann, 2014. "Performing deservingness. Humanitarian health care provision for migrants in Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 352-359.
    7. Friedman, Emmeline & Burr, Eliza & Sufrin, Carolyn, 2021. "Seeking recognition through carceral health care bureaucracy: Analysis of medical care request forms in a County Jail," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    8. Parkinson, Sarah E. & Behrouzan, Orkideh, 2015. "Negotiating health and life: Syrian refugees and the politics of access in Lebanon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 324-331.
    9. Bundy, Henry, 2024. "“Don't fuss at our staff”: A moral economy of volunteerism in South Carolina safety net clinics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    10. Fleming, Mark D. & Shim, Janet K. & Yen, Irene H. & Thompson-Lastad, Ariana & Rubin, Sara & Van Natta, Meredith & Burke, Nancy J., 2017. "Patient engagement at the margins: Health care providers' assessments of engagement and the structural determinants of health in the safety-net," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 11-18.
    11. Duncan, Whitney L. & Nabor Vazquez, Lupita, 2023. "‘I don't feel that we are a burden’: Latinx immigrants and deservingness during the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    12. Kudakwashe P. Vanyoro, 2019. "‘When they come, we don’t send them back’: counter-narratives of ‘medical xenophobia’ in South Africa’s public health care system," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Hoekstra, Erin, 2021. "“Not a free version of a broken system:” Medical humanitarianism and immigrant health justice in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    14. Viladrich, Anahí, 2012. "Beyond welfare reform: Reframing undocumented immigrants’ entitlement to health care in the United States, a critical review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 822-829.
    15. Madden, Erin Fanning, 2015. "Cultural Health Capital on the margins: Cultural resources for navigating healthcare in communities with limited access," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 145-152.
    16. Vanthuyne, Karine & Meloni, Francesca & Ruiz-Casares, Monica & Rousseau, Cécile & Ricard-Guay, Alexandra, 2013. "Health workers' perceptions of access to care for children and pregnant women with precarious immigration status: Health as a right or a privilege?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 78-85.
    17. Snell-Rood, Claire & Carpenter-Song, Elizabeth, 2018. "Depression in a depressed area: Deservingness, mental illness, and treatment in the contemporary rural U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 78-86.
    18. Owczarzak, Jill & Kazi, Asiya K. & Mazhnaya, Alyona & Alpatova, Polina & Zub, Tatyana & Filippova, Olga & Phillips, Sarah D., 2021. "“You're nobody without a piece of paper:” visibility, the state, and access to services among women who use drugs in Ukraine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    19. Armenta, Amada & Sarabia, Heidy, 2020. "Receptionists, doctors, and social workers: Examining undocumented immigrant women's perceptions of health services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    20. O'Brien, Rourke L., 2015. "Monetizing illness: The influence of disability assistance priming on how we evaluate the health symptoms of others," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 31-35.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lo, Ming-Cheng M. & Nguyen, Emerald T., 2021. "Resisting the racialization of medical deservingness: How Latinx nurses produce symbolic resources for Latinx immigrants in clinical encounters," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    2. Vanthuyne, Karine & Meloni, Francesca & Ruiz-Casares, Monica & Rousseau, Cécile & Ricard-Guay, Alexandra, 2013. "Health workers' perceptions of access to care for children and pregnant women with precarious immigration status: Health as a right or a privilege?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 78-85.
    3. Tiedje, Kristina & Plevak, David J., 2014. "Medical humanitarianism in the United States: Alternative healthcare, spirituality and political advocacy in the case of Our Lady Guadalupe Free Clinic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 360-367.
    4. Parkinson, Sarah E. & Behrouzan, Orkideh, 2015. "Negotiating health and life: Syrian refugees and the politics of access in Lebanon," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 324-331.
    5. Armenta, Amada & Sarabia, Heidy, 2020. "Receptionists, doctors, and social workers: Examining undocumented immigrant women's perceptions of health services," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    6. Moysidou, Krystallia & Cohen Chen, Smadar, 2023. "Inducing collective action intentions for healthcare reform through medical crowdfunding framing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    7. Trine Myhrvold & Milada C. Småstuen, 2019. "Undocumented migrants’ life situations: An exploratory analysis of quality of life and living conditions in a sample of undocumented migrants living in Norway," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(11-12), pages 2073-2087, June.
    8. Fatemeh Nazifi, 2016. "Development, Immigration, And Social Harms of Iranian Small Towns: A Case Study," Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 8(2), pages 115-115, September.
    9. Melissa Chinchilla & Mariana C. Arcaya, 2017. "Using Health Impact Assessment as an Interdisciplinary Teaching Tool," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, July.
    10. Richard Norman & Jane Hall & Deborah Street & Rosalie Viney, 2013. "Efficiency And Equity: A Stated Preference Approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(5), pages 568-581, May.
    11. Dorte Gyrd‐Hansen & Ivar Sønbø Kristiansen, 2008. "Preferences for ‘life‐saving’ programmes: Small for all or gambling for the prize?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(6), pages 709-720, June.
    12. Amelie F. Constant & Teresa García-Muñoz & Shoshana Neuman & Tzahi Neuman, 2018. "A “healthy immigrant effect” or a “sick immigrant effect”? Selection and policies matter," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(1), pages 103-121, January.
    13. Tiffany Denise Joseph, 2025. "The Documentation Status Continuum and the Impact of Categories on Healthcare Stratification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-27, January.
    14. Colin Forsyth & Sheba Meymandi & Ilan Moss & Jason Cone & Rachel Cohen & Carolina Batista, 2019. "Proposed multidimensional framework for understanding Chagas disease healthcare barriers in the United States," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, September.
    15. Hoekstra, Erin, 2021. "“Not a free version of a broken system:” Medical humanitarianism and immigrant health justice in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    16. Alex J Goodell & Priya B Shete & Rick Vreman & Devon McCabe & Travis C Porco & Pennan M Barry & Jennifer Flood & Suzanne M Marks & Andrew Hill & Adithya Cattamanchi & James G Kahn, 2019. "Outlook for tuberculosis elimination in California: An individual-based stochastic model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Natalia Zotova, 2018. "Religion and Mental Health among Central Asian Muslim Immigrants in Chicago Metropolitan Area," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 15(3), pages 361-376, July.
    18. Parker, Emily, 2021. "Spatial variation in access to the health care safety net for Hispanic immigrants, 1970–2017," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    19. Malcolm Anderson & Jeff Richardson & John McKie & Angelo Iezzi & Munir Khan, 2011. "The Relevance of Personal Characteristics in Health Care Rationing: What the Australian Public Thinks and Why," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(1), pages 131-151, January.
    20. Maria-Elena Trinidad Young & Gabriela León-Pérez & Christine R. Wells & Steven P. Wallace, 2018. "More Inclusive States, Less Poverty Among Immigrants? An Examination of Poverty, Citizenship Stratification, and State Immigrant Policies," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 37(2), pages 205-228, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:74:y:2012:i:6:p:812-821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.