This book discusses the various social, political, and cultural forces that shape the distribution of diseases in populations. It is based on a series of comparative studies of the historical and contemporary disease patterns of the indigenous peoples of America north of Mexico, Polynesia, and Australia. The purpose of the comparisons is to control in a quasi-experimental way certain crucial variables in order to examine the impact on health of other variables. The comparisons are made at increasingly more refined levels of analysis. Thus, once disease ecology has been held roughly constant,...

Based on interviews with more than a thousand Navajo Indian men and women, this book examines the associations between childhood experiences and behavior and the development of alcohol dependence in adulthood. Because Navajo life has changed markedly over the past two generations, it also examines the role of urbanization and universal school in reshaping Navajo youth and considers the implications for changing patterns of alcohol use in adulthood. In addition the book explores a wide range of timely issues such as domestic violence, factors associated with resistance to alcohol abuse as well...

In the maelstrom of current public health debate over the social determinants of health, this book offers a well-balanced discussion on the roots of prevalent strains of thought on the matter. While this area of research deals in complex problems, it is often dominated by those who deploy rather categorical, partisan positions, citing from a wide range of contradictory statistical studies. Stephen Kunitz brings a measured, balanced and independent perspective to bear on the debate, taking a step back from current arguments to look at the fundamental issues through a socio-historical lens....

In this book, the first long-term follow-up study of alcohol use among Native Americans, a physician/sociologist and an anthropologist examine the data on three groups of Navajos whom they first interviewed about their use of alcohol in 1966. The authors find verification for their initial hypothesis that young men who would have been classified as alcoholic often stop or moderate their drinking as they age. They also find that there is considerable diversity in patterns of alcohol use among both women and men.

Stephen Kunitz's work raises crucial issues for public policy in the medical field, and will be valuable for social scientists, physicians, and health professionals concerned with the social context of public health and other medical facilities.