Insurance As Governance

by Ericson, Richard V.; Doyle, Aaron; Barry, Dean

• ISBN13: 9780802085740
• ISBN10: 0802085741
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Insurance as Governanceis the first major sociological study of the insurance industry. It examines how the industry controls our institutions and daily lives in ways that are largely invisible, and how it thereby functions as a form of government beyond the state. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research on industry practices, the work penetrates the complexities of the insurance industry and demonstrates why it is such a powerful and pervasive institution. The authors advance the concept of moral risk as they consider how insurance companies partner with governments and corporations in the negotiation of economic policy. In effect, Insurance as Governancedocuments liberal theory at work. It offers a major case study of liberal governance beyond the state and explores such larger issues as how insurance is increasingly liberal rather than welfarist in orientation, and how insurance is the vanguard of liberalization in governance throughout postindustrial societies. Wide-ranging in scope and original in approach, the text provides a sophisticated integration of empirical data and theoretical approaches relating to insurance, risk, governance, and security.

Author Biography

Richard V. Ericson is the director of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Oxford and is a fellow of All Souls College. Aaron Doyle is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University. Dean Barry is Policy Research and Development Officer, Citizenship and Immigration, Government of Canada.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	3	(18)
PART I: GOVERNANCE, INSURANCE, AND MORAL RISKS
Governance beyond the State	21	(22)
Insurance as Governance	43	(23)
Governance through Moral Risks	66	(35)
PART II: GOVERNING THE INSURERS
Negotiating Political Economies	101	(38)
Corporate Governance	139	(33)
Market Misconduct	172	(53)
PART III: GOVERNING THE INSURED
Prospects as Suspects	225	(42)
Agents of Prevention	267	(44)
Claims of Fraud	311	(48)
Conclusions	359	(18)
References	377	(14)
Index	391