Health Sciences 2250A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Frankfurt School, Health Promotion, Pierre Bourdieu

• School: Western University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: Health Sciences 2250A/B
• Professor: Jeannie Samuel

Document Summary

Chapter 3 note social theory and health promotion. Intro- what marks health promotion as an ambiguous, contradictory and at times even nebulous field of though and practice is its problematic relationship with its own theoretical basis. Health promotion is unlike medicine, disease prevention, or population health almost exclusively is about social action broadly interpreted. All the other activities are or involve social activities. For health promotion, it is not just the application of its knowledge that involves understanding the social world, it is the theoretical knowledge that is essentially social in nature. Health promotion is about social change, it is about individuals as social beings. Theory represents the key distinguishing feature of the being, knowledge and activity of the philosopher. The notion that theory is about understanding the first principles or causes" of phenomena it was about discovering why" things worked out the way they did, as opposed to just what they worked.