Gives an authoritative overview of the social and economic factors known to be the most powerful determinants of population health in modern societies This book provides what is at once the most authoritative and readable overview of what research tells us about how different areas of public policy affect the health of the population. Arranged in chapters covering policy areas ranging from work and transport to food policy and sexual behaviour, it shows how health is affected by the lives we lead and what policy makers can do about it. List of Contributors ix Introduction 1(5) Michael Marmot Social organization, stress, and health 6(25) Eric Brunner Michael Marmot Early life 31(23) Michael Wadsworth Suzie Butterworth The life course, the social gradient, and health 54(24) David Blane Health and labour market disadvantage: unemployment, non-employment, and job insecurity 78(19) Mel Bartley Jane Ferrie Scott M. Montgomery Health and the psychosocial environment at work 97(34) Michael Marmot Johannes Siegrist Tores Theorell Transport and health 131(17) Mark McCarthy Social support and social cohesion 148(24) Stephen A. Stansfeld Food is a political issue 172(24) Aileen Robertson Eric Brunner Aubrey Sheiham Poverty, social exclusion, and minorities 196(28) Mary Shaw Danny Dorling George Davey Smith Social patterning of individual health behaviours: the case of cigarette smoking 224(14) Martin J. Jarvis Jane Wardle The social determination of ethnic/racial inequalities in health 238(29) James Y. Nazroo David R. Williams Social determinants of health in older age 267(30) Anne McMunn Elizabeth Breeze Alissa Goodman James Nazroo Zoe Oldfield Neighbourhoods, housing, and health 297(21) Mai Stafford Mark McCarthy Social determinants, sexual behaviour, and sexual health 318(23) Anne M. Johnson Catherine H. Mercer Jackie A. Cassell Ourselves and others---for better or worse: social vulnerability and inequality 341(18) Richard G. Wilkinson Index 359