ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the issue by exploring the ways in which our understanding of capitalist class structure may be applied to substantive questions and, thus, used to analyze the implications of class rule. It focuses on one particular problem, the restructuring of the health care sector, to investigate the role of the capitalist class in the creation and transformation of health care provision, emphasizing the importance of both interclass and intraclass relations in such an analysis. As an employment sector, health care is among the fastest growing segments of the economy, and a major characteristic that distinguishes medicine from other industries is the impact of technology. The chapter argues that analysis of the structure of the capitalist class, in terms of both intraclass and interclass relations, offers a powerful framework for investigating the health care system. The interests of the capitalist class in the organization of health care also have important consequences for those working within the health delivery system.
