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Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Abstract

This study traces the history of the United States in socializing certain collective goods for society as a means of possibly satisfying deeper needs. To accomplish this, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's seminal theory on human motivation is analogized to societal needs. Society wants to be protected by government and, little by little, the United States has responded to the needs of its society by socializing certain goods. The United States has satisfied the following needs for society: the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love needs, and the esteem needs. It has yet to satisfy the highest level of societal satisfaction: the need for self-actualization. The objective of this study is to analyze the desirability, feasibility, and practicality of implementing a uniform system of socialized healthcare and determine how implementation of such massive reform would unfold. Would this allow the United States to satisfy the need for self-actualization for society? After examining the pros and cons of socializing healthcare, this study concludes that the United States is not headed towards satisfying the final category on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The United States' desire for power overpowers its desire for self-progression. Political internal debates and ideological biases permeate in United States decision-making. Popular opinion and stigma represent additional obstacles to this goal of satisfying Maslow's final need. Nevertheless, socialized healthcare remains a future possibility that could benefit society and allow the nation to achieve self-actualization. The issue is ultimately one of policy. The nation must wait for healthcare to be viewed more as a collective right than as a commodity to be bought and sold on the market. Progress in this respect has already begun, making way for the long, demanding road ahead for the United States towards satisfying the need for self-actualization for society.

Law is a product of attitudes; values; biases; and cultural, social economic, and political factors, to name just a few ... [T]he public's beliefs across a variety of topics can and often do drive both the creation and revision of law. A system of law at any time is the resultant of present needs and present notions of what is wise and right on the one hand, and, on the other, of rules handed down from earlier states of society and embodying needs and notions which more or less have passed away.

Disciplines

Insurance Law | Law

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