Sociology & Anthropology

Public health in the early 21st century increasingly considers how social inequalities impact individual health, moving away from the focus on how disease relates to the individual person. This 'new public health' identifies how social, economic, and political factors affect the level and distribution of individual health, through their effects on: individual behaviors, the social groups people belong to, their relationships to others, and the characteristics of the societies in which people live. The rising social inequalities that can be seen in nearly every country in the world today present not just a moral danger, but a mortal danger as well. This book is a must-read for everyone interested in international public health and social inequalities. It brings together the latest research findings from some of the most respected medical and social scientists in the world. Social Inequality and Public Health proposes four pathways to understanding the social determinants of health: differences in individual health behaviors, group advantage and disadvantage, psycho-social factors in individual health, and healthy and unhealthy societies. Social Inequality and Public Health sheds light on the costs and consequences of today's high-inequality social models.