Putting the ‘social’ back in: Social determinants of health as a methodological lens

Mishra, Arima (2017) Putting the ‘social’ back in: Social determinants of health as a methodological lens. In: The Social Determinants of Health in India. Springer Singapore, Singapore, pp. 21-33. ISBN 978-981-10-5999-5

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

The messages of the SDH Commission report are not necessarily novel but they have an additional significance in the current climate of health, which witnesses the failure of the Alma Ata declaration of achieving ‘Health for All’ with increasing evidence on persistent inequities in different parts of the world. The significance of the report also lies in the fact that it provides an apt forum for a dialogue among disciplines (roughly between social science disciplines including humanities and conventional health sciences) and different stakeholders including academics, practitioners and civil society advocacy groups. It signals the ‘coming together’ of a diverse set of actors/perspectives/methodologies that are, more importantly, liberating the study of health from a narrow lens of biomedicine in the common pursuit of striving towards health equity. The spirit of dialogue is hence critical as several concerns relating to conceptualization (the unpacking of the ‘social’) and operationalization (identifying actions on the social determinants and developing indicators for monitoring inequalities) emanate from such a conversational space among the different actors and disciplines involved. In the spirit of such a conversation, this chapter talks about what the ‘social’ in social determinants of health entails and its implications in terms of research and actions. It argues that social determinants of health needs to be seen as a methodological lens than rediscovering a new set of factors or causes leading to inequity.

Item Type:	Book Section
Authors:	Mishra, Arima
Editors:	Editors Email ORCID Nambiar, Devaki UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Muralidharan, Arundati UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
Document Language:	Language English
Subjects:	Social sciences > Political Science > Public policy Social sciences > Social problems & services Public Health
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Development
Full Text Status:	None
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/7276
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5999-5_2

Actions (login required)

View Item