Riots and Rebirth: The Role of Policy Sciences in Addressing Disparities in Health Care

In the past 40 years, there has been considerable progress in approaching social equity in civil rights, housing, education, and income, but health care inequalities persist. In this paper we take the position that policy sciences, as developed by Harold D. Lasswell and his colleagues, offers both hope and promise of achieving social equity in health for African Americans. A broader approach, incorporating multiple disciplines, is needed to bridge the gap over the original vision of this discipline and the actual practice over the past 50 years. Policies designed to address health care disparities would benefit from both rational and less-rational approaches to describe and motivate provider behavior.