Epidemiology and the People's Health: Theory and Context

by Nancy Krieger

Overview

Epidemiology is often referred to as the science of public health. However, unlike other major sciences, its theoretical foundations are rarely articulated. While the idea of epidemiologic theory may seem dry and arcane, it is at its core about explaining the people's health. It is about life and death. It is about biology and society. It is about ecology and the economy. It is about how myriad aspects of people's lives—involving work, dignity, desire, love, play, conflict, discrimination, and injustice—become literally incorporated into our bodies and manifest in our health status, individually and collectively. And it is about essential knowledge critical for improving the people's health and minimizing inequitable burdens of disease, disability, and death.

Woven from a vast array of schools of thought, including those in the natural, social, and biomedical sciences, epidemiologic theory is a rich tapestry whose time for analysis is long overdue. By tracing its history and contours from ancient societies on through the development of—and debates within—contemporary epidemiology worldwide, Dr. Krieger shows how epidemiologic theory has long shaped epidemiologic practice, knowledge, and the politics of public health. Outlining an ecosocial theory of disease distribution that situates both population health and epidemiologic theory in societal and ecologic context, she offers a more holistic picture of how we embody the human experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199348428
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/12/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Nancy Krieger, Ph.D., is Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. In 1994 she co-founded, and still chairs, the Spirit of 1848 Caucus of the American Public Health Association, which is concerned with the links between social justice and public health.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1: Does Epidemiologic Theory Exist? On Science. Data, and Explaining
Disease Distribution
Chapter 2: Health in the Balance: Early Theories About Patterns of
Disease Occurrence
Chapter 3: Epidemiology Emerges: Early Theories and Debating Determinants of
Disease Distribution-Poison. Filth, Class, & Race ( 1600-1900)
Chapter 4: Epidemiology Expands: Germs, Genes. and the (Social)
Environment ( 1900-1950)
Chapter 5: Contemporary Mainstream Epidemiologic Theory:
Biomedical and Lifestyle
Chapter 6: Social Epidemiologic Alternatives: Sociopolitical and Psychosocial Frameworks
Chapter 7: Ecosocial Theory of Disease Distribution: Embodying
Societal & Ecologic Context
Chapter 8: Epidemiologic Theory Counts: Harm, Knowledge,
Action, and the People's Health

Editorial Reviews

"[Krieger] has written a large, well-structured, critically argued and exhaustively referenced book, the culmination of two decades of her wrestling with and writing about the fundamental questions: Does epidemiologic theory exist; if not, should it exist; and what form should it take?" — International Journal of Epidemiology

"Ultimately, Epidemiology and the People's Health is required reading for epidemiologists interested in the evolution and emergence of theory in the field. We would argue that all epidemiologists should be so interested... this book firmly establishes the importance of theory in epidemiology. We look forward to reading the many works it will inspire." —American Journal of Epidemiology

From the Publisher