1 The Social Causation of Health and Disease

Coronavirus

Smoking

The Biomedical Model

Elements of Proof

Diabetes

HIV/AIDS

Social Determinants of Disease: Fundamental Cause Theory

Measuring Structural Effects

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

2 Theorizing about Health and Disease

The Rise and Fall of Structural-Functionalism

The Fall of Conflict Theory and Repackaging of Marxism

The Rise of the Agency-Oriented Paradigm

American Medical Sociology

British Medical Sociology

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

3 Health Lifestyles

Lifestyle: Health as an Achievement

Methodological Individualism in Health Lifestyle Research

The Agency-Structure Debate

Health Lifestyle Theory

Class circumstances

Age, gender, and race/ethnicity

Collectivities

Living conditions

Socialization and experience

Life choices (agency)

Life chances (structure)

Choice and chance interplay

Dispositions to act (habitus)

Completing the model

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

4 The Power of Class

Class and Heart Attack Survival

Class Structure and its Components

Class schemes

Weber: status groups

The End of Class?

The Social Gradient in Mortality

Confirming the Relationship

Medical Care as an Intervening Variable?

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

5 Class and Health: Explaining the Relationship

Class, Health, and Medical Care in the United States

Class, Health, and Medical Care in the United Kingdom

Stress

Income Inequality

Culture

Smoking

Obesity

Conclusion: Social Causation or Social Selection?

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

6 Age

Age Stratification Theory

Life Course Theory

Cohort Effects of Age

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

7 Gender

The Gender Health and Mortality Paradox

Gender Differences in Physical and Mental Health

Gender Differences in Health Practices

LGBT Health

Another Look at Smoking

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

8 Race and Ethnicity

Ethnicity

Race and Physical Health

Hispanics and Immigration

Racism as a Fundamental Cause

Race and Health in Britain

Race and Mental Health

Summary

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

9 Living Conditions and Neighborhood Disadvantage

Unhealthy Places

Health and Neighborhood Disadvantage in Britain

Physical Health and Neighborhood Disadvantage in the US

Mental Health and Neighborhood Disadvantage in the US

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

10 Health and Social Capital

Robert Putnam: Bowling Alone

Nan Lin: Social Capital as Structure

Pierre Bourdieu: A Social Form of Capital

Robert Sampson: Collective Efficacy

Research Applications of Social Capital

Conclusion

Critical Thinking Questions

Suggested Further Reading

Concluding Remarks

The Return of Structure

Structure-Agency Interface

Policy Implications

Conclusion

References

Name Index

Subject Index