Improving service encounters through resource sensitivity: The case of health care delivery in an Appalachian community

Pierre Bourdieu's work on the political economy of symbolic power is partic ularly relevant to marketing and public policy aimed at ameliorating consum er vulnerability and persistent social inequities. This theoretical framewo rk highlights various resources, or capital, that individuals possess and h ow these resources (or lack of) affect power relations. The authors use an ethnographic study of women's health care encounters in a rural Appalachian coal mining community to explore and demonstrate the usefulness of this ap proach. Specifically, in some health care encounters, social inequality is reinforced through the interplay of different forms of capital between the service provider and consumer: However, practices that are sensitive to cap ital increase the possibility of more successful and just service encounter s. In this article, the authors examine health care practices that are reso urce sensitive and insensitive and offer recommendations.