An economic and sociological interpretation of social differences in health-related behaviour: An encounter as a guide to social epidemiology

Eva Lindbladh, Carl Hampus Lyttkens, Bertil S. Hanson, Perolof Östergren, Sven-Olof Isacsson and Björn Lindgren

Social Science & Medicine, 1996, vol. 43, issue 12, 1817-1827

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.

Keywords: economics; sociology; health; behaviour; social; differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1996
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