HLST 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5-6: Social Epidemiology

• School: York University
• Department: Health Studies
• Course: HLST 1010
• Professor: Professor Kenneth Lam

Document Summary

Chapter 5 focuses on the research about health and the perspectives on what constitutes knowledge about the world and how we come to acquire it this is called knowledge paradigms. Three board families of knowledge paradigms which are useful for understanding how health, illness, and health care issues can be studied are through three primary approaches: positivism, idealism, and realism. Positivism is to focus on concrete and observable facts while realism is concerned with the identi cation and analysis of societal structures. Idealism is concerned with humans" interpretations and understandings of the world. Realism is concerned with societal structure and these determine the distribution of societal economics, social, and political resources. This is in short is one of the main ideas of this chapter. Furthermore, this chapter also focuses on social epidemiology, which shapes how knowledge is developed and under stood and critical analysis in health care.