To advance the epidemiological analysis of social inequalities in health, and of the ways in which population distributions of disease, disability, and death reflect embodied expressions of social inequality, this volume draws on articles published in the International Journal of Health Services between 1990 and 2000. Framed by ecosocial theory, it employs ecosocial constructs of "embodiment"; "pathways of embodiment"; "cumulative interplay of exposure, susceptibility, and resistance across the lifecourse"; and "accountability and agency" to address the question; who and what drives current and changing patterns of social inequalities in health.

Section I, Social Epidemiology: History, Hypotheses, Methods, and Measurement, focuses on theories and constructs useful for analyzing social inequalities in health related to class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and disability. Rather than construing these aspects of lived experiences of inequality as solely a matter of personal "identities" and "behaviors," the contributors consider how the political and economic context in which people live enhances—or destroys—their abilities to live healthy, dignified lives.

Section II, "EmpiricalInvestigation: Social Epidemiology at Work," moves from concepts and critiques to critical applications, via concrete analyses of diverse determinants of social inequalities in health. These determinants include economic and social deprivation; toxic substances and hazardous conditions; social trauma, including institutional and interpersonal discrimination and violence; targeted marketing of harmful commodities; and inadequate or degrading medical care. Together, these chapters clarify the importance of conceptualizing hypotheses in relation to the political and material as well as the psychological conditions in which people live, love, work, fight, play, ail, and die.