Title: An economic and sociological interpretation of social differences in health-related behaviour: An encounter as a guide to social epidemiology
Abstract: 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.
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 78
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