What is critical about critical public health? Focus on health inequalities

ABSTRACT

For many years I have discussed with colleagues, and more recently with students, the definition of critical perspectives (plural, for there are many) on public health. Based on those discussions, and with a focus on health inequalities, this article identifies five elements of such perspectives. First, they involve some degree of commitment to health equity. Second, they situate health inequalities with regard to underlying social arrangements or institutions. Third, history matters. Fourth, the potentially pernicious impact of medicalisation and the dominance of medical frames of reference must be acknowledged. Fifth, production of scientific knowledge must be recognized as a social process whose material and institutional contexts matter. The elements of critical perspectives interact and intersect in practice, as shown with illustrations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).