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Rethinking Rural Health Ethics pp 31–44Cite as

The Deficit Perspective

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Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 72))

Abstract

This chapter undertakes an examination of the ways in which the deficit perspective has pervaded the rural health and rural health ethics literature. We begin by describing the deficit perspective and highlight four sets of presumptions that it is based upon. We then demonstrate how deeply the deficit perspective is embedded in the rural health literature, with a particular emphasis on the ways in which it influences and shapes rural health ethics. An analysis of the ethics of deficit shows how problematic this perspective can be and supports the conclusion of this chapter, namely that the deficit perspective should be (at the very least) balanced with a more positivist paradigm.

I’m not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself (Ronald Reagan).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It should be noted that similar debates were not had about whether the state and federal governments should continue to subsidise service delivery for non-Aboriginal remote communities (Howitt and McLean 2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioethics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Christy Simpson & Fiona McDonald

  2. Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Christy Simpson & Fiona McDonald

Authors
  1. Christy Simpson
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  2. Fiona McDonald
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Simpson, C., McDonald, F. (2017). The Deficit Perspective. In: Rethinking Rural Health Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 72. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60811-2_3

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