ABSTRACT

The term ‘Cultural Transition’ is hardly a conventional term in the social sciences, let alone public health. Yet here we argue that changes in culture are intrinsic to the public health, which is why its professions and agents need to make the cultural dimension of life central to their activities and thinking. Culture is not a ‘bolton’ to public health but intrinsic, particularly expressed in the Social-Behavioural model (see Chapter 3). We have, throughout Part II, examined how what appear to be simple explanations subtly invoke cultural assumptions or messages. In this chapter we explore what we mean by the Cultural Transition.