Placing the Public in Public Health in Post-War Britain, 1948–2012 (Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History) - Hardcover

Mold, Alex; Clark, Peder; Millward, Gareth; Payling, Daisy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3030186849 ISBN 13: 9783030186845

Publisher: Palgrave Pivot, 2019

Synopsis

This open access book explores the question of who or what ‘the public’ is within ‘public health’ in post-war Britain. Drawing on historical research on the place of the public in public health in Britain from the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, the book presents a new perspective on the relationship between state and citizen. Focusing on health education, health surveys, heart disease and the development of vaccination policy and practice, the book establishes that ‘the public’ was not one thing but many. It considers how public health policy makers and practitioners imagined the public or publics. These publics were not mere constructions; they had agency and the ability to ‘speak back’ to public health. The nature of publicness changed during the latter half of the twentieth century, and this book argues that the relationship between the public and public health offers a powerful lens through which to examine such shifts.

About this title

About the Author:

Alex Mold is Associate Professor in History and Director of the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Peder Clark is a Research Assistant on the Placing the Public in Public Health project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Gareth Millward is a Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, UK.

Daisy Payling is a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Essex, UK.

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 3030186849
• ISBN 13: 9783030186845
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 149