Social Dimensions of Health

The universality of health concerns and the complexity of dealing with them makes it increasingly important for professionals in sociology, health care, and policy making to become acquainted with the wide variety of strategies used in different social contexts. Although Israel is in some ways unique in its social problems and its approach to health care, many of its problems resemble those of other societies, and many of its solutions can be applied in other countries. Social Dimensions of Health looks at distinctive aspects of the Israeli health care system, while at the same time drawing comparisons with other societies.

Judith Shuval discusses the health and health behavior of a variety of groups in Israeli society that have not been systematically considered in other analyses: women, the elderly, alternative health care providers, immigrants, and Israeli Arabs. Shuval analyzes the critical influence of ultraorthodox parties on health policy in the context of a tenuously balanced coalition government, and shows how the pervasive conflict between Israel and the Arab world penetrates all aspects of social life, including health. Inequality in health is discussed with special reference to Israeli Arabs. The study concludes with a discussion of what can be learned from the Israeli experience, and how it can best be applied in other social contexts. Social Dimensions of Health will prove useful to scholars, health practitioners, and lay people seeking a broad understanding of the social factors underlying health and health care.

JUDITH T. SHUVAL is Louis and Pearl Rose Professor of Medical Sociology at the School of Public Health and the Department of Sociology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was awarded the Israel Prize for the Social Sciences in 1965 for her first book Immigrants on the Threshold. Since then she has published Social Functions of Medical Practice (with A. Antonovsky and A. M. Davies, 1970), Entering Medicine: A Seven Year Study of Medical Education in Israel (1980), and Newcomers and Colleagues: Soviet Immigrant Physicians in Israel (1983). She has been a consultant to UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and policy-making bodies in Israel, and on the editorial boards of Social Science and Medicine and Sociology of Health and Illness.