Rethinking public health: Promoting public engagement through a new discursive environment

Y. Sun

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 1, e6-e13

Abstract: I reexamine the notion of public health after reviewing critiques of the prevalent individualistic conception of health. I argue that public health should mean not only the health of the public but also health in the public and by the public, and I expound on the social contingency of health and highlight the importance of the interpersonal dimensions of health conditions and health promotion efforts. Promoting public health requires activating health-enhancing communicative behaviors (such as interpersonal advocacy and mutual responsibility taking) in addition to individual behavioral change. To facilitate such communicative behaviors, it is imperative to first construct a new discursive environment in which to think and talk about health in a language of interdependence and collective efforts.

Keywords: article; consumer advocacy; health education; health promotion; human; human relation; organization; public health service; social behavior; social control; social justice; social marketing; social status, Consumer Advocacy; Health Education; Health Promotion; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Organizational Innovation; Public Health Administration; Social Conditions; Social Control Policies; Social Justice; Social Marketing; Social Responsibility, Consumer Advocacy; Health Education; Health Promotion; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Organizational Innovation; Public Health Administration; Social Conditions; Social Control Policies; Social Justice; Social Marketing; Social Responsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2013.301638_8

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301638

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