Synopses & Reviews
Health and Modernity
The Role of Theory in Health Promotion
David V. McQueen, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
Ilona Kickbusch, Federal Office for Health, Bern, Switzerland
and
Louise Potvin, Université de Montréal, Canada
Jürgen Pelikan, University of Vienna, Austria
Laura Balbo, University of Ferrara, Italy
Thomas Abel, University of Bern, Switzerland
Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: the line that once separated health crisis from social crisis no longer exists. Yet while social theories are implied in today's public health arena, they are rarely acknowledged. Now an international panel of leaders in world health explores this vital but understudied aspect of health promotion.
Health and Modernity proceeds from the thesis that contemporary health promotion is, by definition, inextricably linked to its social context. The authors discuss global challenges in terms of cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community. In the process, they define an entity that:
-Understands the centrality of health to all areas of human life
-Is committed to equity in access to health-promoting resources
-Applies a multidisciplinary approach to public concerns
-Looks beyond quick fixes and simple answers to complex issues
-Employs a variety of political and social agents to accomplish health objectives
-Is dedicated to empowerment, facilitation, and inclusiveness
The insights found in Health and Modernity are certain to raise the level of debate among professionals, researchers, and the academic community in the global/public health and health promotion fields. This visionary volume guides readers from the immediacy of doing toward the deeper meaning that makes such doing possible.
Review
From the reviews:
"McQueen (CDC), Kickbusch (Swiss Federal Office for Health, Bern), and four contributors wrote this book following lengthy discussions about ways to clarify and expand an appropriate theoretical base for the research and practice of health promotion. ... This work demonstrates that the production and distribution of health now depends on empowerment and participation at all levels of society. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty/researchers." (M. K. Snooks, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (11), August, 2007)
Synopsis
The aim of this book is to demonstrate how the deep theoretical underpinnings of health promotion contribute to contemporary public health. The 20th century development of the social sciences provided an extensive theoretical debate on modernity that led to a revised social theory. This new social theory is, in the eyes of the authors, totally relevant and essential as the theoretical foundation for present day health promotion practice. The authors contend that the development of health promotion cannot be adequately understood and the challenges cannot be resolved without an explanatory framework of the major societal shifts that have occurred in the latter half of the 20th century. The authors have identified seven key characteristics of modern health promotion that relate directly to the social theory espoused in the book. Within individual chapters and interwoven throughout the entire book the authors consider the interplay of actor and structure, the dynamics of complexity and causality, the interface of inclusion and exclusion, the role of uncertainty and risk, the importance of learning and communication in a knowledge society, the task of framing interventions within new governance principles, and the challenge of acting locally in a global world. This book is designed to help the reader understand how health promotion is based on social theory. Further, it will provide reflexive insights into the everyday practice of health promotion and illustrate that health promotion is an integral part of the modern public health as practiced in the West. This book will be of interest to both health promotion practitioners and social scientists.
Synopsis
Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: the line that once separated health crisis from social crisis no longer exists. Yet while social theories are implied in today s public health arena, they are rarely acknowledged. Now an international panel of leaders in world health explores this vital but understudied aspect of health promotion.
Health and Modernity proceeds from the thesis that contemporary health promotion is, by definition, inextricably linked to its social context. The authors discuss global challenges in terms of cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community. In the process, they define an entity that:
- Understands the centrality of health to all areas of human life
- Is committed to equity in access to health-promoting resources
- Applies a multidisciplinary approach to public concerns
- Looks beyond quick fixes and simple answers to complex issues
- Employs a variety of political and social agents to accomplish health objectives
- Is dedicated to empowerment, facilitation, and inclusiveness
The insights found in Health and Modernity are certain to raise the level of debate among professionals, researchers, and the academic community in the global/public health and health promotion fields. This visionary volume guides readers from the immediacy of doing toward the deeper meaning that makes such doing possible.
"
Synopsis
From a Theory Group to a Theory Book.- Modernity, Public Health, and Health Promotion.- Critical Issues in Theory for Health Promotion.- Cultural Capital in Health Promotion.- Understanding Differentiation of Health in Late Modernity by Use of Sociological Systems Theory.- Managing Uncertainty Through Participation.- Thinking Health Promotion Sociologically.- Health Governance: The Health Society.
Synopsis
This book explores the link between health and society. It presents a theory that contemporary health promotion is, by definition, inextricably linked to its social context. The authors discuss global challenges in terms of cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community. In the process, they define an entity that: understands the centrality of health to all areas of human life, is committed to equity in access to health-promoting resources, applies a multidisciplinary approach to public concerns, looks beyond quick fixes and simple answers to complex issues, employs a variety of political and social agents to accomplish health objectives, is dedicated to empowerment, facilitation, and inclusiveness. The insights found in Health and Modernity are certain to raise the level of debate among professionals, researchers, and the academic community in the global/public health and health promotion fields.
Synopsis
Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: these are not only health crises but social crises as well. Now a panel of leaders in global health explores the vital but understudied social theories behind the practice of health promotion, including cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community.
About the Author
David V. McQueen is the Associate Director for Global Health Promotion at the CDC, and the Program Leader for the IUHPE-WHO Global Programme on Health Promotion Effectiveness. He is on the editorial board of the Birkhauser journal
Social and Preventive Medicine, and he has co-edited the book
Global Behavioural Risk Surveillance for Springer. He is also co-editing
Global Perspectives on Health Promotion Effectiveness (to be published in June 2007). His current research interests include: the theoretical foundations of health promotion, nature of evidence and evaluation in health promotion, analytical methods for risk factor surveillance data, new applications of surveillance, and the health implications of urbanization and urban sprawl.
Ilona Kickbusch is a private health consultant, and formerly Head of the Division of Global Health at Yale University School of Medicine, in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. She joined Yale after a long career with the World Health Organization where she initiated the OTTAWA Charter for Health Promotion and headed a range of innovative programs. She has published widely on the new public health and is the founder and chair of the editorial board of the journal Health Promotion International. She continues to act as an adviser to the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization and a range of foundations, NGOs and the private sector on matters of global health and the development of health promotion. Presently she acts as the senior health advisor to the United Nations Association of the USA's global health campaign. She has also been designated the distinguished Fulbright New Century Scholars Leader on "Challenges of Health in a Borderless World." She received her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Konstanz, Germany.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Health Promotion: the origins of the third public health revolution leading to a new public health.- From a Theory group to a theory book.- Modernity, Public Health and Health Promotion: A Reflexive Discourse.- Critical Issues in Theory for Health Promotion.- Cultural Capital in Health Promotion.- Understanding Differentiation of Health in Late Modernity - by Use of Sociological Systems Theory.- Managing uncertainty through participation.- Thinking health promotion sociologically.- Health Governance: the health society.- Appendix II and II.