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

Summary, in English

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.

• Author: Eva Lindbladh; Carl Hampus Lyttkens; Hans-Bertil Hansson; Per-Olof Östergren; Sven-Olof Isacsson; Björn Lindgren
• Department/s: Community Medicine
• Publishing year: 1996
• Language: English
• Pages: 1817-1827
• Publication/Series: Social Science and Medicine
• Volume: 43
• Issue: 12
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00087-1
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Economics; Sociology; Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
• Keywords: economics; sociology; health; behaviour; social differences
• Status: Published
• Research group: Community Medicine
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1873-5347