Is there an absence of theory in social epidemiology?: the authors respond to Muntaner

Article Abstract:

Social epidemiology does possess a theoretical consensus that sees a person as creating his or her health status. The dominant methodological approach in a science, social epidemiology included, serves the dominant theory, thus the epidemiologic method applied to social factors as though they were exposures can yield any result. Much of epidemiology suffers from theoretical confusion, a situation especially true of race/ethnicity studies. Social epidemiology must bring social criticism. Counterfactual definition of causal effect is not to be rejected, but concern about application is justified. Social environment depends on the consensus racial definition in a society, and fluidity of race is not relevant. The bulk of the energy in all types of science is dissipated in documenting the trivial. Observations pretending to be discoveries are overwhelming in volume In the epidemiologic literature on social factors.

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Seeking causal explanations in social epidemiology

Article Abstract:

Causal explanations are sought in social epidemiology with varying degrees of success, but more deliberate and creative approaches are needed. Infectious disease epidemiology and systems analysis give examples of possible approaches useful when statistical modeling of simple experimental designs is not feasible. Social inequality is on the increase, and valid approaches become more urgently needed. Epidemiology has not been effective as an etiologic science for the most part, despite observing patterns. The counterfactual approach to causal inference has been used to describe some fundamental problems that come up often when researchers try to infer explanatory mechanisms from data.

Causes of, Diseases, African Americans, Mathematical models, Whites, Sex differences, Experimental design, Research design

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Invited commentary: social mechanisms, race, and social epidemiology

Article Abstract:

The main reason that social epidemiology has not been able to give better explanations for associations between social factors and poor health is that social theory development is lacking, mainly as a result of reluctance on the part of epidemiologists to consider social mechanisms such as racial exploitation. The role of counterfactual models in social science is analyzed and an illustration of fundamental similarities between epidemiology and other socionatural sciences and failure of epidemiology to find social mechanism hypotheses is given.

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