ABSTRACT
In the first chapter, I trace changing historical patterns of disease and mortality over time and raise the ever-present issue of social and health inequalities. The agenda-shifting Black Report of 1980 is discussed in his connection, as are research findings from socio-epidemiological studies deploying socioeconomic proxies for social class. While acknowledging that such studies supply clues for a sociology oriented – as I maintain it should be – to explanation, I offer a critique of the positivist methods owing much to Hume and J.S. Mills and still put to use by sociologists interested in examining health inequalities. The message here is that we should expect, and can deliver, more from a sociological engagement with health inequalities.
