What is the conflict perspective on health and illness?
Health care is one of the scarce resources over which groups compete. On a global level, health care follows the stratification that we studied in Chapter 9. The best health care is available in the dominant nations, the worst in the dependent nations.   In the American colonies, no training or licensing was necessary if one wanted to call oneself a doctor. Even until the early 1900s, medical training was a hit-or-miss affair. In 1910, the education of physicians came under the control of a group of men who eliminated most of their competition and turned medicine into a monopoly and the largest business in the United States. Historical Patterns of Health How have health patterns changed over time? Patterns of disease in the United States have changed so extensively that of today s top ten killers, five did not even show up on the 1900 top ten list. Because most Americans live longer than their ancestors did, we can conclude that contemporary Americans are healthier. For mental illn
