ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, Bhaskar’s philosophy of critical realism is introduced. The focus in the first part is on his basic critical realism. It is argued that this approach has a threefold return: it overcomes what he calls the ‘epistemic fallacy’ – that is, reducing what exists to what we can know of what exists – and provides an ontology of objects, powers/mechanisms and tendencies without falling into the trap of reductionism; it offers a viable alternative to positivism in its multiple guises; and it announces and commits to methodological rigour in a (dynamic and ‘messy’) open society. In the second part, I outline what I contend are the main and compelling features of post-1970s financial capitalism. In the final part, I spell out the relevance of this macro-sociological analysis for understanding and explaining health inequalities and the present ‘selling off’ of the English National Health Service (NHS) to for-profit providers. The core concepts and roles of the novel class/command dynamic of financial capitalism and of asset flows pertinent for health and longevity are defined.
