The Cult and Science of Public Health - A Sociological Investigation (Electronic book text)

In contemporary manifestations of public health rituals and events, people are being increasingly united around what they hold in commonOCotheir material being and humanity. As a cult of humanity, public health provides a moral force in society that replaces OCytraditionalOCO religions in times of great diversity or heterogeneity of peoples, activities and desires. This is in contrast to public healthOCOs foundation in science, particularly the science of epidemiology. The rigid rules of OCyscientific evidenceOCO used to determine the cause of illness and disease can work against the most vulnerable in society by putting sectors of the population, such as underrepresented workers, at a disadvantage. This study focuses on this tension between traditional science and the changing vision articulated within public health (and across many disciplines) that calls for a collective response to uncontrolled capitalism and unremitting globalization, and to the way in which health inequalities and their association with social inequalities provides a political rhetoric that calls for a new redistributive social programme. Drawing on decades of research, the author argues that public health is both a cult and a science of contemporary society."