Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

McKeown and the Idea That Social Conditions Are Fundamental Causes of Disease

McKeown and the Idea That Social Conditions Are Fundamental Causes of Disease In an accompanying commentary, Colgrove indicates that McKeown's thesis—that dramatic reductions in mortality over the past 2 centuries were due to improved socioeconomic conditions rather than to medical or public health interventions—has been "overturned" and his theory "discredited." McKeown sought to explain a very prominent trend in population health and did so with a strong emphasis on the importance of basic social and economic conditions. If Colgrove is right about the McKeown thesis, social epidemiology is left with a gaping hole in its explanatory repertoire and a challenge to a cherished principle about the importance of social factors in health. We return to the trend McKeown focused upon—post-McKeown and post-Colgrove—to indicate how and why social conditions must continue to be seen as fundamental causes of disease. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Public Health American Public Health Association

McKeown and the Idea That Social Conditions Are Fundamental Causes of Disease

American Journal of Public Health , Volume 92 (5): 730 – May 1, 2002

Loading next page...
 
/lp/american-public-health-association/mckeown-and-the-idea-that-social-conditions-are-fundamental-causes-of-8w04eP0u8d

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
American Public Health Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by the American Public Health Association
ISSN
0090-0036
eISSN
1541-0048
DOI
10.2105/AJPH.92.5.730
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In an accompanying commentary, Colgrove indicates that McKeown's thesis—that dramatic reductions in mortality over the past 2 centuries were due to improved socioeconomic conditions rather than to medical or public health interventions—has been "overturned" and his theory "discredited." McKeown sought to explain a very prominent trend in population health and did so with a strong emphasis on the importance of basic social and economic conditions. If Colgrove is right about the McKeown thesis, social epidemiology is left with a gaping hole in its explanatory repertoire and a challenge to a cherished principle about the importance of social factors in health. We return to the trend McKeown focused upon—post-McKeown and post-Colgrove—to indicate how and why social conditions must continue to be seen as fundamental causes of disease.

Journal

American Journal of Public HealthAmerican Public Health Association

Published: May 1, 2002

There are no references for this article.