The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism and its impact on health

Time: 12-1pm

Hosted by: the Critical Research in Health & Healthcare Inequities (CRiHHI) unit

Particular qualities of human nature were of interest to the political theorist C. B. Macpherson who examined the ontology of liberal democratic theory, identifying Possessive Individualism as the key political philosophy of capitalist societies. His seminal text ‘The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism’ (1962) examined the lineage of political thought from Hobbes and Locke, from where he demonstrated the origins of twentieth century conceptions of freedom and obligation had emerged. This presentation introduces the theory of Possessive Individualism, explores its origins, and uses it as a lens to examine iterations of class domination and specific conceptualizations of health and health care provision.

BIO: Dr. Angela Flynn is a Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in University College Cork, Ireland, where she is Director of Undergraduate Education. Her background was originally within Cardiothoracic and Intensive Care Nursing where she saw first-hand the impact of Ireland’s deeply inequitable health care system. She has completed research on problem based learning and simulation in nurse education, as well as on Quality of Life in cardiac surgical patients. She completed her PhD in Social Science with a thesis that examined Ireland’s health care system using a historical Foucauldian genealogy, and through a particular social theoretical lens. She has a particular interest in the establishment of social justice as a core nursing value and in pedagogical approaches to cultural safety in nurse education.

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