The New Public Health
Discourses, Knowledges, Strategies
First Edition
- Alan Petersen - Monash University, Australia
- Deborah Lupton - University of New South Wales, Australia, UNSW Sydney, Australia
February 1997 | 192 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Achieving good health is one of the major concerns of contemporary societies. Everyone is now called upon to play their part in creating a "healthier" and "more ecologically sustainable" environment through attention to lifestyle and involvement in collective efforts to manage risk. These strategies are the mainstay of the so-called "new public health." Alan Petersen and Deborah Lupton focus critically on the new public health, assessing its implications for the concepts of self, embodiment, and citizenship. They argue that the new public health is used as a source of moral regulation and for distinguishing between self and the other. They also explore the implications of the modernist belief in the power of science and the ability of experts to solve problems through the rational administrative means that underpin the strategies and rhetoric of the new public health.
Providing a new viewpoint to a highly debated issue, The New Public Health will stimulate discussion for those interested in the fields of public health and health promotion, social policy, sociology of health, and nursing.
Introduction
The New Public Health
Epidemiology
The `Healthy' Citizen
Risk Discourse and `the Environment'
The `Healthy' City
The Duty to Participate
Conclusion
`I found the book provocative and well worth reading' - Public Health Reports