Why are some societies more successful than others at promoting individual and collective well-being? This book integrates recent research in social epidemiology with broader perspectives in social science to explore why some societies are more successful than others at securing population health. It explores the social roots of health inequalities, arguing that inequalities in health are based not only on economic inequalities, but on the structure of social relations. It develops sophisticated new perspectives on social relations, which emphasize the ways in which cultural frameworks as well as institutions condition people’s health. It reports on research into health inequalities in the developed and developing worlds, covering a wide range of national case studies, and into the ways in which social relations condition the effectiveness of public policies aimed at improving health.
• Presents an interdisciplinary approach to population health
• Based on four years of collaboration among distinguished scholars in a diverse range of social sciences
• Develops a new understanding of population health as rooted in the ‘wear and tear of daily life’ and in the social relations that condition it

Contents
Introduction Peter A. Hall and Michele Lamont; 1. Population health and the dynamics of collective development Clyde Hertzman and Arjumand Siddiqi; 2. Social interactions in human development: pathways to health and capabilities Daniel P. Keating; 3. Health, social relations and public policy Peter A. Hall and Rosemary C. R. Taylor; 4. Population health and development: an institutional-cultural approach to capability expansion Peter Evans; 5. Responding to AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa: culture, institutions, and health Ann Swidler; 6. Responses to racism, health, and social inclusion as a dimension of successful societies Michele Lamont; 7. Collective imaginary and population health (how health data can highlight cultural history) Gerard Bouchard; 8. Making sense of public health: citizenship regimes and public health in Victorian England Jane Jenson; 9. The multicultural welfare state? Will Kymlicka; 10. From state-centrism to neoliberalism: macro-historical contexts of population health since World War II William H. Sewell, Jr.

"This ambitious and creative volume sets the agenda for how we should think about societal and cultural determinants of health. Hall and Lamont have given us the best volume yet on understanding how societies produce population health. With a stellar set of authors, the book examines the path-dependent processes by which successful societies can lead to improved health outcomes for its citizens. The book integrates the work of social scientists, historians and epidemiologists and is a must read for scholars as well as students in those fields as well as the public. An indispensable volume - it will change the way you think about the production of health and well being!" ( Lisa F. Berkman, Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University)

"This outstanding volume does an outstanding job crossing borders: disciplines, countries, time periods, types of evidence, modes of reasoning. It uses the voyage to great affect, as a model of outstanding interdisciplinary cooperation. It links people from anthropology and sociology to epidemiology, medical sociology, and political science raise fascinating questions about what makes societies work. By comparing countries, the volume forces us to challenge common modes of reasoning. This book is wonderful piece of ‘collaborative public intellectuals’. It should be read all over the academy and by the general public." (Peter Gourevitch, University of California at San Diego)

A tanulmányok szerzői:
Peter A. Hall, Michele Lamont, Clyde Hertzman, Arjumand Siddiqi, Daniel P. Keating, Rosemary C. R. Taylor, Peter Evans, Ann Swidler, Gerard Bouchard, Jane Jenson, Will Kymlicka, William H. Sewell, Jr.