Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives - Tapa blanda

The authors accomplishments, good and bad experiences, concerns, beliefs and values will resonate among many readers who are public health researchers or practitioners. The book will stimulate, encourage and challenge us to move from research to advocacy and campaigning. Furthermore, regardless of our specific field of research or public health practice, the book will remind us to be always aware and explicit about the values inherent in our professional and personal choices and decisions. (Ilona Koupil, Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet & Department of Public Health Sciences, Sweden; European Journal of Public Health, 11)

By combining critical social and political science perspectives togetherwith more standard public health approaches, and mainly applying them to the UK context, this book goes beyond standard traditional public health approaches, to try to better understand and address health inequalities (Lucinda Cash-Gibson and Joan Benach, Journal of Social Policy)

Informed by a wealth of available research, between 1997 and 2010, the UK Labour government introduced a raft of policies to reduce health inequalities. Despite this, by most measures, the UK's health inequalities have continued to widen. This failure has prompted calls for new approaches to health inequalities research and some consensus that public health researchers ought to be more actively involved in 'public health advocacy'. Yet there is currently no agreement as to what these new research agendas should be and despite multiple commentaries reflecting on recent UK efforts to reduce health inequalities, there has so far been little attempt to map future directions for research or to examine what more egalitarian policies means in practical terms.

Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives addresses these concerns. It takes stock of the UK's experiences of health inequalities research and policy to date, reflecting on the lessons that have been learnt from these experiences, both within the UK and internationally. The book identifies emergent research and policy topics, exploring the perspectives of actors working in a range of professional settings on these agendas. Finally, the book considers potential ways of improving the links between health inequalities research, policy and practice, including via advocacy.

With contributions from established, international health inequalities experts and newer, up-and-coming researchers in the field, as well as individuals working on health inequalities in policy, practice and civil society settings, Health Inequalities: Critical Perspectives is a 'must buy' for researchers, postgraduate students, policymakers, practitioners, and research funders.