title: An economic and sociological interpretation of social differences in health-related behaviour: an encounter as a guide to social epidemiology.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lindbladh
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lyttkens
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ostergren
authors.forename: S O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Isacsson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lindgren
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012962:Sociology, Medical