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Epidemiol Rev 2004;26:124-135
© 2004 by the Oxford University Press

What’s Wrong with Social Epidemiology, and How Can We Make It Better?

George A. Kaplan1,2

1 Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

Correspondence to Dr. George A. Kaplan, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1214 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548 (e-mail: gkaplan@umich.edu).

Received for publication December 11, 2003; accepted for publication February 20, 2004.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


    INTRODUCTION
 
It is perhaps ironic that an epidemiologist who has been working in the field of social epidemiology for over a quarter of a century, and who directs a center focused on social epidemiology, should coin a title suggesting that there is something "wrong" with social epidemiology. Perhaps it is even inopportune, as it could provide ammunition to those who believe that the practice of social epidemiology is misguided, unscientific, ideological, or too overreaching (1–3). However, this title was chosen purposely with the hope that identifying some of the critical intellectual, methodological, and empirical lacunae and challenges in social epidemiology might promote continuing development of a social epidemiology that is both scientifically enlightening and useful, productive, and contributory to the public’s health.

Indeed, the hope is that the "social" in epidemiology will become so integral a part of epidemiology that the term can be dropped altogether. To . . . [Full Text of this Article]


    METAPHORS AND MODELS
 

    THE NEED FOR SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGIC THEORY
 

    ANALYTICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL PITFALLS IN SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
 

    THE PURSUIT AND PERILS OF INTERDISCIPLINARITY
 

    Personalizing populations
 

    Global social epidemiology
 

    Health versus health care
 

    Moderating essentialism
 

    LOST OPPORTUNITIES
 

    WHITHER SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY?
 

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 

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