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Can society be healthy, and how? Is Britain a ‘healthy society’ in the 21st century?
When people ponder health, they usually consider the health of the individual, but individuals co-exist in a social environment so attention should be placed on the health of communities and populations.
Re-examining health, healthcare and societal health using the latest data and research, this book provides a clear, accessible account of the current state of play. Addressing definitions of health in individuals, communities and populations, definitions of society itself, changes in health over time and the contribution of healthcare to health and longevity, it also suggests ways of effectively tackling obstacles to improving health and healthcare in 21st century Britain.
"Brilliantly applying sociological insight to address the pressing issue of lost welfare for an increasing number of people, Scambler proposes a more action-oriented approach. This is a book of great wisdom." Aksel Tjora, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
“Healthy Societies can be considered Graham Scambler’s masterwork. It is a brilliant and theoretically informed analysis of the expanding class divide in health and life expectancy in the UK and US.” William Cockerham, University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of Maryland
“Neoliberals assume that healthy societies are merely collections of healthy individuals. Scambler destroys this assumption with a scholarly analysis of how fractured and unequal societies form the structural preconditions for individuals to become unhealthy. To produce healthy individuals, we need societal reform.” Trisha Greenhalgh, University of Oxford
“An impressively wide-ranging account of what a healthy society demands, and why the UK, at least, is rapidly descending into a less healthy, more unequal society.” Kat Smith, University of Strathclyde
Introduction
1. The Healthy Society
2. Social Conditions and Health Inequalities
3. Markets, Profits and Health Care
4. The Structure/Culture Axis
5. COVID-19 and the Fractured Society
6. The Challenge of Global Inequality in the Anthropocene
7. Planet Earth
8. War
9. Why Theory Matters
10. A Theoretical Framework for Achieving the Healthy Society
11. Policy, Practice and Obstacles
12.The Future: Whither Sociology?