Successful Societies : How Institutions and Culture Affect Health

Why are some types of societies more successful than others at promoting individual and collective well-being? Focusing on population health as an indicator of social success, this book opens up new perspectives on the ways in which social relations condition health and the public policies that address it. Based on four years of dialogue among scholars from diverse disciplines, it offers social epidemiologists broader views of the social determinants of health and social scientists a sense of the fascinating puzzles of population health. The chapters consider health inequalities in the developing, as well as developed, world. They locate their roots, not only in economic resources, but in the social resources provided by the institutions and cultural repertoires constitutive of social relations. They examine the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the sources of the health gradient, the role of collective imaginaries, destigmatization strategies, and the historical basis for effective health policies. Half-title......Page 3 Title......Page 7 Copyright......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Contributors......Page 11 Preface......Page 13 Introduction......Page 15 From the Material to the Social in Population Health......Page 17 Pathways from institutions and culture to Health......Page 19 Bringing culture Back in......Page 22 Institutions, Public Policy Making, and Health......Page 28 Social Processes and causal Structures......Page 33 Conclusion......Page 35 Introduction......Page 37 Population Health: Overview and Current Evidence......Page 38 The Phenomenon of Socioeconomic Gradients in Health......Page 41 SES Gradients Suggest the Fundamental Influence of Societal Determinants of Health......Page 43 Reconnecting Populations to the Individuals That Comprise Them......Page 47 The Value of comparative Perspectives......Page 48 Processes Unfolding over Time......Page 49 Health Outcomes......Page 52 Analysis......Page 53 Why Relative Income and Public Provision Matter for Population Health: A Look at Potential Mechanisms Linking Social Inequality to Population Health......Page 57 Understanding the evolution of Population Health over time......Page 58 The Male-Female Life Expectancy Gap......Page 59 Reconnecting the Mechanisms: Drilling Down from Macro to Micro in Canada versus United States......Page 60 Good Health in Bad Times: Russia versus Czech Republic......Page 62 Conclusion......Page 65 2 Social Interactions in Human Development: Pathways to Health and Capabilities......Page 67 The Social Gradient in Health......Page 74 Society, Biology, and Human Development: Escaping Determinism......Page 79 Conceptual Model of Social and Developmental Mediators of the Social Gradient in Developmental Health......Page 82 Social and Developmental Mediators of the Social Gradient in Health......Page 85 A Sense of Control: Social Hierarchies and the Stress Response System......Page 88 A Sense of Connection: Social Relationships and the Social Reward System......Page 91 The Emergence of Consciousness: Identity and Meaning......Page 93 An Integrated System: Collective and Individual Capabilities......Page 94 3 Health, Social Relations, and Public Policy......Page 96 A Basic Model Linking Population Health to Economic and Social Relations......Page 97 The Impact of Economic Relations......Page 99 Social Relations as Social Resources......Page 101 Social Capital......Page 102 Social Networks......Page 103 Collective Imaginaries......Page 104 Social Hierarchy......Page 107 The Capabilities of Communities......Page 109 Public Policy Making as Social Resource Creation......Page 111 Social Connectedness......Page 112 Social Hierarchy......Page 114 Conclusion......Page 116 4 Population Health and Development: An Institutional-Cultural Approach to Capability Expansion......Page 118 Arguments about Population Health and Development......Page 119 Reconceptualizing Population Health Variations in Poor Countries......Page 124 Institutions, Culture, and Improved Health Outcomes in Poor Countries......Page 130 Lessons for Population Health and Development Theory......Page 137 Outlining the Issues......Page 142 Variations in Political Response: Problems and Paradoxes......Page 146 A Political Paradox: Botswana versus Uganda......Page 147 Leadership......Page 148 Money, Government Competence, Public Health Infrastructure......Page 150 NGOs and Outside Funding......Page 151 Culture, Legitimacy, and the Problem of "Cultural Match"......Page 152 Solidarities and Silences......Page 156 The Heart of the Matter......Page 160 Conclusion......Page 161 Objectives and Contributions......Page 165 Destigmatization Strategies......Page 169 Antiracism among Black Working-Class Men......Page 172 The African American Elite......Page 173 Black Marketing Executives......Page 174 North African Immigrants in France......Page 175 The Impact of Destigmatization Strategies on Mental Health......Page 176 The Future Agenda......Page 180 7 Collective Imaginaries and Population Health: How Health Data Can Highlight Cultural History......Page 183 Collective Imaginary as Articulation of Reason and Myth......Page 186 The Sociocultural/Health Framework Encapsulated: Identity Deprivation and Physical Disorders among Qubec Indians......Page 190 The Survival Thesis......Page 192 The Modernist Thesis......Page 195 The Missing Narrative......Page 196 The 1850-1960 French Canadian Imaginary: Ineffective Myths, Fragmentary Thought......Page 200 The Health Record......Page 204 A Complex, Unpredictable Journey: From Collective Imaginaries to Behaviors - and Backward......Page 211 The Case for a New Paradigm......Page 213 8 Making Sense of Contagion: Citizenship Regimes and Public Health in Victorian England......Page 215 Analytic Tools for Thinking about Policy Variation......Page 216 In Public Health, "Politics Matters"......Page 217 Politics and Citizenship Regimes......Page 219 Mid-Nineteenth-Century England: Only Partial Implementation of the Sanitary Idea......Page 221 Sanitarians and Public Health......Page 222 Fitting the "Sanitary Idea" into the Age of Reform's Citizenship Regime......Page 227 The Reconfigured Citizenship Regime after 1870: Progress for the Sanitary Idea Opposition to Sanitarians......Page 231 The Politics of Water and Sewers in the 1870s......Page 232 Citizenship and Bodily Integrity - Opposition to Sanitarians......Page 234 Summary and Conclusions......Page 238 Introduction......Page 240 Diversity and the Welfare State......Page 243 The Case for a Heterogeneity/Redistribution Trade-Off......Page 245 The Case for a Recognition/Redistribution Trade-Off......Page 247 Testing the Heterogeneity/Redistribution Trade-Off......Page 252 Testing the Recognition/Redistribution Trade-Off......Page 254 Rethinking the Underlying Mechanisms......Page 258 Conclusion......Page 266 10 From State-Centrism to Neoliberalism: Macro-Historical Contexts of Population Health since World War II......Page 268 The Rise of the State-Centric Paradigm......Page 270 Cultural Transformations......Page 276 The Neoliberal Offensive......Page 286 The Global Contours of a Neoliberal Present......Page 294 Prospects for Population Health in a Neoliberal World......Page 299 Bibliography......Page 303 Index......Page 349 Population Health And The Dynamics Of Collective Development / Clyde Hertzman, Arjumand Siddiqi -- Social Interactions In Human Development: Pathways To Health And Capabilities / Daniel P. Keating -- Health, Social Relations, And Public Policy / Peter A. Hall, Rosemary C.r. Taylor -- Population Health And Development : An Institutional-cultural Approach To Capability Expansion / Peter Evans -- Responding To Aids In Sub-saharan Africa : Culture, Institutions, And Health / Ann Swidler -- Responses To Racism, Health, And Social Inclusion As A Dimension Of Successful Societies / Michèle Lamont -- Collective Imaginaries And Population Health : How Health Data Can Highlight Cultural History / Gérard Bouchard -- Making Sense Of Contagion : Citizenship Regimes And Public Health In Victorian England / Jane Jenson -- The Multicultural Welfare State? / Will Kymlicka -- From State-centrism To Neoliberalism : Macro-historical Contexts Of Population Health Since World War Ii / William H. Sewell, Jr. Edited By Peter A. Hall, Michèle Lamont. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 289-333) And Index. 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 Focusing on population health as an indicator of social success, this book examines how social institutions and cultural frameworks affect health and the policies that address it. Built on dialogue among diverse disciplines, it offers social epidemiologists and social scientists broader perspectives on the social determinants of population health.