ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the biological, psychological, and social approaches that dominate the contemporary health landscape. It clarifies why a social identity analysis is well placed to provide an overarching framework that integrates and builds upon the existing approaches and a basis from which to develop a new appreciation of the social and psychological dimensions of various physical and mental health conditions. Engel led a revolution in medicine to make health more human by supplementing a biological analysis with awareness of the contribution of psychological and social factors to the experience of illness. Despite the ongoing dominance of the biomedical model, in recent decades psychological approaches have proved increasingly influential as a framework for understanding and managing health. Biomedical and psychological approaches are generally well documented and well understood in health and health psychology literatures. Despite its clear relevance to a range of health issues, the social capital approach was not developed to target these specifically.
