Health Culture And Society

This book traces the history of formative, enduring concepts, foundational in the development of the health disciplines. It explores existing literature, and subsequent contested applications. Feminist legacies are discussed with a clear message that early sociological and anthropological theories and debates remain valuable to scholars today. Chapters cover historical events and cultural practices from the standpoint of ‘difference’; formulate theories about the emergence of social issues and problems and discuss health and illness in light of cultural values and practices, social conditions, embodiment and emotions. This collection will be of great value to scholars of biomedicine, health and gender.

Many serious public health problems confront the world in the new millennium. Anthropology and Public Health examines the critical role of anthropology in four crucial public health domains: (1) anthropological understandings of public health problems such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes; (2) anthropological design of public health interventions in areas such as tobacco control and elder care; (3) anthropological evaluations of public health initiatives such as Safe Motherhood and polio eradication; and (4) anthropological critiques of public health policies, including neoliberal health care reforms. As the volume demonstrates, anthropologists provide crucial understandings of public health problems from the perspectives of the populations in which the problems occur. On the basis of such understandings, anthropologists may develop and implement interventions to address particular public health problems, often working in collaboration with local participants. Anthropologists also work as evaluators, examining the activities of public health institutions and the successes and failures of public health programs. Anthropological critiques may focus on major international public health agencies and their workings, as well as public health responses to the threats of infectious disease and other disasters. Through twenty-four compelling case studies from around the world, the volume provides a powerful argument for the imperative of anthropological perspectives, methods, information, and collaboration in the understanding and practice of public health. Written in plain English, with significant attention to anthropological methodology, the book should be required reading for public health practitioners, medical anthropologists, and health policy makers. It should also be of interest to those in the behavioral and allied health sciences, as well as programs of public health administration, planning, and management. As the single most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of anthropology's role in public health, this volume will inform debates about how to solve the world's most pressing public health problems at a critical moment in human history.

Health, Culture and Society establishes a link between human physiological functions and social representations. The book questions human behavior over the centuries, comparing select models found in China, France, and ancient India. It appears that the societies at high risk, such as modern societies in particular, develop four functional, extra-organic prostheses around which social constructions are built - namely metabolic, neuropsychic, immunological, and elimination. Those societies at low risk, like that of the former French regime, adopt a tripartite model like that of Dumezil. Yet, the ancient Indian social system, originally quadripartite, has evolved over the centuries towards a tripartite model. What are the reasons which prompted the ancient Indians to establish a system of social quadripartition? Was it for the sake of prevention? Were they theorists? If the Indians developed a social system based on the balance of functions, wouldn't it be possible to suggest a definition of prevention and to put forward the model of a health system based on both the management of the autonomous regulation of the body and its functions? What is the conclusion regarding the evolution of our society? Health, Culture and Society examines these questions.

Society, Culture and Health, 2nd Edition introduces sociology to students studying nursing, providing framework from which to consider issues such as chronic illness and disability, health in the media, and changing illness patterns in Australian society.

Bringing the hard-to-quantify aspects of lived experience to analysis, and emphasizing what might be lost in interventions if cultural insights are absent, this book includes case studies from across the Asia and Pacific regions –Bangladesh, Malaysia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands. When Culture Impacts Health offers conceptual, methodological and practical insights into understanding and successfully mediating cultural influences to address old and new public health issues including safe water delivery, leprosy, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and body image. It contains useful methodological tools – how to map cultural consensus, measure wealth capital, conduct a cultural economy audit, for example. It provides approaches for discerning between ethnic and racial constructs and for conducting research among indigenous peoples. The book will be indispensible for culture and health researchers in all regions. Discusses global application of case descriptions Demonstrates how a cultural approach to health research enriches and informs our understanding of intractable public health problems Covers methods and measurements applicable to a variety of cultural research approaches as well as actual research results Case studies include medical anthropology, cultural epidemiology, cultural history and social medicine perspectives

This casebook documents public reactions to health programs and health situations in sixteen widely differing communities of the world. Some of the studies record successes, others failures. Of interest to anyone concerned with preventive medicine, public health, community betterment, or cultural problems involving peoples of different backgrounds and beliefs.

Chieko Nakajima tells the story of China's unfolding modernity, exploring changing ideas, practices, and systems related to health and body in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Shanghai. She explains how local customs fashioned and constrained public health and, in turn, how hygienic modernity helped shape local cultures and behavior.