Health and Social Justice:
Politics, Ideology, and Inequality in the Distribution of Disease edited by Richard Hofrichter
Softcover: 688 pages
ISBN 0787967335
978-0787967338
Jossey-Bass
November 2003 (click the button below for the very best available price)
Health is an asset and a resource critical to human development
that benefits society as a whole. But realizing health for all
members of society may be a matter of social justice, which depends
on reducing social and economic inequality and increasing democracy
in healthcare.
Health and Social Justice draws on the growing body of recent
literature to offer a comprehensive collection of articles written by a
panel of expert contributors who represent a broad range of
fields–sociology, epidemiology, public health, ecology, politics,
organizing, and advocacy.
Each article explores a particular aspect of
health inequalities and demonstrates how the sources of health inequalities
are rooted in injustices associated with racism, social class, and sex
discrimination. This important book examines the political implications of
various perspectives used to explain health inequities and explores
alternative strategies for eliminating them. Health and Social Justice
covers a broad spectrum of topics and:
Analyzes the politics of health inequities
Shows how market values often dominate over collective needs for
well-being
Examines the politics of methodology and its implications for
research and public policy
Critiques the ideological implications of contemporary health
promotion as a model for public health
Reviews approaches that influence the social determinants of health
Evaluates strategies drawn from the European experience, and others,
aimed at eliminating health inequities
Proposes principles for action and research
Analyzes the role of the mass media in influencing the
conceptualization of public health issues
The Politics of Health Inequities: Contested Terrain (Richard
Hofrichter).
A Society in Decline: The Political, Economic, and Social
Determinants of Health Inequalities in the United States (Dennis
Raphael).
Understanding and Reducing Socioeconomic and Racial/Ethnic
Disparities in Health (James S. House, David R. Williams).
Gender, Health, and Equity: The Intersections (Piroska Östlin, Asha
George, Gita Sen).
Getting a Grip on the Global Economy: Health Outcomes and the
Decoding of Development Discourse (John Gershman, Alec Irwin, Aaron
Shakow).
The Political Context of Social Inequalities and Health (Vincente
Navarro, Leiyu Shi).
Income Inequality and Mortality: Importance to Health of Individual
Income, Psychosocial Environment, or Material Conditions (John W. Lynch,
George Davey Smith, George A. Kaplan, James S. House).
Zoning, Equity, and Public Health (Juliana A. Maantay).
The Changing Structure of Work in the United States: Implications
for Health and Welfare (Sarah Kuhn, John Wooding).
Public Health as Social Justice (Dan E. Beauchamp).
Social Capital and the Third Way in Public Health (Carles Muntaner,
John W. Lynch, George Davey Smith).
Measuring Health Inequalities: The Politics of the World Health
Report 2000 (Paula A. Braveman).
Assessing Equity in Health: Conceptual Criteria (Alexandra Bambas,
Juan Antonio Casas).
Income Inequality, Social Cohesion, and the Health Status of
Populations: The Role of Neo-liberalism (David Coburn).
Income Inequality and Health: Expanding the Debate (John W. Lynch).
Is Capitalism a Disease? The Crisis in U.S. Public Health (Richard
Levins).
Theorizing Inequalities in Health: The Place of Lay Knowledge
(Jennie Popay, Gareth Williams, Carol Thomas, Anthony Gatrell).
The Limitations of Population Health as a Model for a New Public
Health (Dennis Raphael, Toba Bryant).
Theories for Social Epidemiology in the Twenty-First Century: An
Ecosocial Perspective (Nancy Krieger).
Toward the Future: Policy and Community Actions to Promote
Population Health (Dennis Raphael).
Globalization, Trade, and Health: Unpacking the Links and Defining
Health Public Policy Options (Ronald Labonte).
Socioeconomic Disparities in Health in the United States: An Agenda
for Action (Nancy E. Moss).
From Science to Policy: Options for Reducing Health Inequalities
(Hilary Graham).
Addressing Structural Influences on the Health of Urban Populations
(Arline T. Geronimus).
Swimming Upstream in a Swift Current: Public Health Institutions and
Inequality (Rajiv Bhatia).
Minnesota’s Call to Action: A Starting Point for Advancing Health
Equity Through Social and Economic Change (Gavin Kearney).
The Role of Mass Media in Creating Social Capital: A New Direction
for Public Health (Lawrence Wallack).
Richard Hofrichter is a writer and social critic. He is the author of
Reclaiming the Environmental Debate: The Politics of Health in a Toxic
Culture (2000), and the editor of Toxic Struggles: The Theory and Practice
of Environmental Justice (1993) and Neighborhood Justice in Capitalist
Society: The Expansion of the Informal State (1987).
Health and Social Justice is written for concerned citizens, professionals,
practitioners, students, faculty, and public health professionals as well as
social policymakers, sociologists, and others who are concerned with the
increasing inequities in health status.
