Social Determinants of Health - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198565895 ISBN 13: 9780198565895

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Social Determinants of Health, 2E gives an authoritative overview of the social and economic factors which are known to be the most powerful determinants of population health in modern societies. Written by acknowledged experts in each field, it provides accessible summaries of the scientific justification for isolating different aspects of social and economic life as the primary determinants of a population's health.

The new edition takes account of the most recent research and also includes additional chapters on ethnicity and health, sexual behaviors, the elderly, housing and neighborhoods.

Recognition of the power of socioeconomic factors as determinants of health came initially from research on health inequalities. This has led to a view of health as not simply about individual behavior or exposure to risk, but how the socially and economically structured way of life of a population shapes its health. Thus exercise and accidents as as much about a society's transport system as about individual decisions; and the nation's diet involves agriculture, food manufacture, retailing, and personal incomes as much as individual choice. But a major new element in the picture we have developed is the importance of the social, or psycho-social, environment to health. For example, health in the workplace for most employees - certainly for office workers - is less a matter of exposure to physical health hazards as of the social envrionment, of how supportive it is, whether people have control over their work, whether their jobs are secure.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Marmot is a Director, International Institute for Society and Health; Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK. Richard Wilkinson is in the Department of Social Epidemiology, University of Nottingham Medical School; visiting Professor Institute for
Society and Health, University College London, UK.

Review:

Review from the previous edition

"Excellent...[a] wide-ranging review of empirical evidence and discussion of its implications."--Chronic Diseases in Canada

"Marmot & Wilkinson have made a timely addition to the maturing field of health and health policy research. This volume should be relevant to anyone interested in health determinants, given its clear organization and concise writing."--Social Science & Medicine

"It is a dense, fascinating and wide-ranging collection...an excellent primer for those who wish to engage in the debate about how this policy can be taken forward to make a real difference to the lives of the people whose deprivations are analyses in its pages."--Health Matters

"The book surveys the effects of social inequality on health and offers a forum in which these can be linked with more obvious influences."--Times Higher Education Supplement

"At the core of The Social Determinants of Health is the groudbreaking Whitehall study...it found that wealth and status are the crucial factors in health and longevity."--The Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0198565895
• ISBN 13: 9780198565895
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 376
• Editor: Marmot Michael