An economic and sociological interpretation of social differences in health-related behaviour: An encounter as a guide to social epidemiology

We argue that the group-centred analyses of social epidemiology should follow from theoretical considerations that take the situation of the individual as their natural starting point. In a tentative dialogue between economics and sociology, we develop a framework for the analysis of health-related...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 1996-12, Vol.43 (12), p.1817-1827
Main Authors: Lindbladh, Eva, Lyttkens, Carl Hampus, Hanson, Bertil S., Östergren, Perolof, Isacsson, Sven-Olof, Lindgren, Björn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
behaviour
Biological and medical sciences
Decision Making
Economic Theories
Economics
economics sociology health behaviour social differences
Epidemiologic Methods
Epidemiology
Health
Health Behavior
Health Behavior - ethnology
Health behaviour
Health care
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Interdisciplinary Approach
Interpretation
Medical Decision Making
Medical sciences
Methodology (Philosophical)
Miscellaneous
Models, Economic
Models, Psychological
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Reproducibility of Results
Social aspects
Social Class
social differences
Social differentiation
Socioeconomic aspects
Socioeconomic Factors
Sociological Theory
Sociology
Sociology, Medical
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Summary:We argue that the group-centred analyses of social epidemiology should follow from theoretical considerations that take the situation of the individual as their natural starting point. In a tentative dialogue between economics and sociology, we develop a framework for the analysis of health-related behaviour. Such behaviour is modelled as a process of decision-making at the individual level. Within economics, we draw specifically on the demand-for-health literature and the new institutional economics. Within sociology, Bourdieu's habitus theory is presented in combination with a macro-structural approach where the focus is on the process of individualization. The relationship between these different approaches to health-related behaviour and their implications is discussed. We find that the encounter between different sciences provides valuable insights for future work in the socio-epidemiological tradition.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00087-1