Policy Press
One Introduction
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Salvatore J. Babones
Abstract
This volume is organised around four pathways identified in the new public health of the twenty-first century as mechanisms through which social inequality affects public health. They are considered in four sections arranged in order from least to most controversial. The first section examines how individual choices can be shaped by the alternatives offered in the environments in which people live. The second section aggregates environments like those examined in the first section into larger syndromes affecting broad groups in society. The third section leaps to an analytical level where the proximate cause of individual health is hypothesised to operate at the social level. The fourth section debates on the more expansive hypothesis that entire societies can possess more or less healthy social structures. A concluding section addresses the public understanding of the new public health.
Abstract
This volume is organised around four pathways identified in the new public health of the twenty-first century as mechanisms through which social inequality affects public health. They are considered in four sections arranged in order from least to most controversial. The first section examines how individual choices can be shaped by the alternatives offered in the environments in which people live. The second section aggregates environments like those examined in the first section into larger syndromes affecting broad groups in society. The third section leaps to an analytical level where the proximate cause of individual health is hypothesised to operate at the social level. The fourth section debates on the more expansive hypothesis that entire societies can possess more or less healthy social structures. A concluding section addresses the public understanding of the new public health.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables, maps and boxes v
- Preface vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
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Differences in individual health behaviours
- The role of time preference and perspective in socioeconomic inequalities in health-related behaviours 9
- Examination of the built environment and prevalence of obesity: neighbourhood characteristics, food purchasing venues, green space and distribution of Body Mass Index 25
- Reinventing healthy and sustainable communities: reconnecting public health and urban planning 45
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Group advantage and disadvantage
- How and why do interventions that increase health overall widen inequalities within populations? 65
- The metaphor of the miner’s canary and black–white disparities in health: a review of intergenerational socioeconomic factors and perinatal outcomes 83
- From adversary to ally: the evolution of non-governmental organizations in the context of health reform in Santiago and Montevideo 97
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Psychosocial factors in individual health
- Health inequalities and the role of psychosocial work factors: the Whitehall II Study 115
- Inequality, psychosocial health and societal health: a model of inter-group conflict 131
- The social epidemiology of population health during the time of transition from communism in Central and Eastern Europe 143
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Healthy and unhealthy societies
- The impact of inequality: empirical evidence 159
- ‘Public goods’, metropolitan inequality and population health in comparative perspective: policy and theory 169
- Inequality and health: models for moving from science to policy 185
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Conclusions Public understanding of the new public health
- Promoting public understanding of population health 201
- Health, inequalities and mobilisation: human rights and the Millennium Development Goals 215
- What the public needs to know about social inequality and public health 231
- Index 237
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures, tables, maps and boxes v
- Preface vii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Introduction 1
-
Differences in individual health behaviours
- The role of time preference and perspective in socioeconomic inequalities in health-related behaviours 9
- Examination of the built environment and prevalence of obesity: neighbourhood characteristics, food purchasing venues, green space and distribution of Body Mass Index 25
- Reinventing healthy and sustainable communities: reconnecting public health and urban planning 45
-
Group advantage and disadvantage
- How and why do interventions that increase health overall widen inequalities within populations? 65
- The metaphor of the miner’s canary and black–white disparities in health: a review of intergenerational socioeconomic factors and perinatal outcomes 83
- From adversary to ally: the evolution of non-governmental organizations in the context of health reform in Santiago and Montevideo 97
-
Psychosocial factors in individual health
- Health inequalities and the role of psychosocial work factors: the Whitehall II Study 115
- Inequality, psychosocial health and societal health: a model of inter-group conflict 131
- The social epidemiology of population health during the time of transition from communism in Central and Eastern Europe 143
-
Healthy and unhealthy societies
- The impact of inequality: empirical evidence 159
- ‘Public goods’, metropolitan inequality and population health in comparative perspective: policy and theory 169
- Inequality and health: models for moving from science to policy 185
-
Conclusions Public understanding of the new public health
- Promoting public understanding of population health 201
- Health, inequalities and mobilisation: human rights and the Millennium Development Goals 215
- What the public needs to know about social inequality and public health 231
- Index 237
