title: Integrating medical and environmental sociology with environmental health: crossing boundaries and building connections through advocacy.
abstract: This article reviews the personal and professional processes of developing an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complex issues of environmental health in their community, political-economic, social science, and scientific contexts. This interdisciplinary approach includes a synthesis of research, policy work, and advocacy. To examine multiple forms of interdisciplinarity, I examine pathways of integrating medical and environmental sociology via three challenges to the boundaries of traditional research: (1) crossing the boundaries of medical and environmental sociology, (2) linking social science and environmental health science, and (3) crossing the boundary of research and advocacy. These boundary crossings are discussed in light of conceptual and theoretical developments of popular epidemiology, contested illnesses, and health social movements. This interdisciplinary work offers a more comprehensive sociological lens for understanding complex problems and a practical ability to join with scientists, activists, and officials to meet public health needs for amelioration and prevention of environmental health threats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. p.brown@neu.edu
authors.forename: Phil
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D004782:Environmental Health; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D012106:Research
keywords: advocacy; community-based participatory research; environmental health; interdisciplinarity; social movements