Social Capital and Health / Edition 1

by Ichiro Kawachi, S.V. Subramanian, Daniel Kim

Overview

As interest in social capital has grown over the past decade—particularly in public health —so has the lack of consensus on exactly what it is and what makes it worth studying. Ichiro Kawachi, a widely respected leader in the field, and 21 contributors (including physicians, economists, and public health experts) discuss the theoretical origins of social capital, the strengths and limitations of current methodologies of measuring it, and salient examples of social capital concepts informing public health practice.

Among the highlights:

Measurement methods: survey, sociometric, ethnographic, experimental

The relationship between social capital and physical health and health behaviors: smoking, substance abuse, physical activity, sexual activity

Social capital and mental health: early findings

Social capital and the aging community

Social capital and disaster preparedness

Social Capital and Health is certain to inspire a new generation of research on this topic, and will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in public health, health behavior, and social epidemiology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780387713106
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/31/2007
Edition description:	2008
Pages:	292
Sales rank:	1,141,238
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

Ichiro Kawachi is a Professor of Social Epidemiology in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is also Director of the Harvard Center for Society and Health. He has authored several books with Oxford University Press and New Press on society and health.

S.V. Subramanian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has a PhD in geography with specialization in multilevel statistical methods, and he also has a master's degree in the field of development studies.

Daniel Kim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed residency training in community medicine at the University of Toronto. He also has a doctor of public health degree in social epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Social capital and health: A decade of progress and beyond Ichiro Kawachi, S.V. Subramanian and Daniel Kim PART I MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL Chapter 2. Measurement of individual social capital: questions, instruments, and measures Martin van der Gaag and Martin Webber Chapter 3. The measurement of community social capital through surveys Trudy Harpham Chapter 4. Network-based approaches for measuring social capital Cynthia M. Lakon, Dionne C. Godette and John R. Hipp Chapter 5. Actual or potential neighborhood resources for health: What can Bourdieu offer for understanding mechanisms linking social capital to health? Richard M. Carpiano Chapter 6. Social capital and public health: Qualitative and ethnographic approaches Rob Whitley Chapter 7. The economic approach to cooperation and trust: Lessons for the study of social capital and health Lisa R. Anderson and Jennifer M. Mellor PART II EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE Chapter 8. Social capital and physical health: A systematic review of the literature Daniel Kim, S.V. Subramanian and Ichiro Kawachi Chapter 9. Social capital and mental health: An updated interdisciplinary review of primary evidence Astier M. Almedom and Douglas Glandon Chapter 10. Social capital and health-related behaviors Martin Lindström Chapter 11. Social capital and aging-related outcomes Kathleen Cagney and Ming Wen Chapter 12. Social capital and health communications K. (Vish) Viswanath Chapter 13. Disaster preparedness and social capital Howard K. Koh and Rebecca O. Cadigan

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Anne B Wallis, MHS, PhD (University of Iowa College of Public Health)
Description: This edited book is designed to provide an up-to-date description of scholarly thinking about the concept of social capital and its relationship to health outcomes. The two main sections focus on measurement and empirical evidence; chapters cover definitions, qualitative and quantitative measures, and the relationships observed between social capital and physical and mental health, health behaviors, aging, health communications, and disaster preparedness. Chapters are written by authorities in the field.
Purpose: The purpose is to detail the results of a decade of research on social capital and health. This is a worthy objective because although the term "social capital" is part of day-to-day discourse in public health research, there is disagreement on how to define it and how to measure it, and about the nature of the relationship between social capital and health outcomes. The book does a good job of defining the literature, characterizing debates among researchers, and presenting empirical findings.
Audience: Public health students and researchers interested in the social and behavioral predicates of health are the intended audience. The editors are highly regarded social epidemiologists from the Harvard School of Public Health. The chapter authors are published and knowledgeable in their respective areas. This book will provide students and academic researchers with a very good, up-to-date accounting of the state-of-the-field in thinking about and studying social capital and its relationship to health.
Features: The book does an excellent job of summarizing what social capital is (as opposed to what people may think it is) and how thinking has evolved since the 1990s. Chapters describe important measurement and analytical issues and summarize empirical evidence about the association between social capital and health. The first chapter, written by the editors, is particularly compelling in its description of the use of multilevel models to analyze ecological data and untangle individual versus community effects. A weakness is that while the editors discuss the writings of some of the critics of social capital research, they do not include a chapter either devoted to a review of the criticisms or written by one of the major critics that would summarize important theoretical, definition-related, and measurement concerns.
Assessment: This is a strong book that would be useful as a reference or as a textbook in a social epidemiology or other public health methods course. I would recommend it to readers of Social Epidemiology, Berkman and Kawachi (Oxford University Press, 2000), and Neighborhoods and Health, Kawachi and Berkman (Oxford University Press, 2003).

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews:

"This edited book is designed to provide an up-to-date description of scholarly thinking about the concept of social capital and its relationships to health outcomes. … Public health students and researchers interested in social and behavioral predicates of health are the intended audience. … The chapter authors are published and knowledgeable in their respective areas. This book will provide students and academic researchers with a very good, up-to-date accounting of the state-of-the-field in thinking about and studying social capital and its relationship to health." (Anne B. Wallis, Doody’s Review Service, January 2008)

"The book consists of an introduction plus two large sections, the first on the measurement of social capital and the second on the evidence linking social capital to health. ... This book will be a useful reference for anyone interested in understanding and studying the many and complex ways in which social relationships may affect health." (Ana V. Diez Roux, American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 168, 2008)

From the Publisher