Does Racism Harm Health? Did Child Abuse Exist Before 1962? On Explicit Questions, Critical Science, and Current Controversies: An Ecosocial Perspective
Nancy Krieger, PhD
The author is with the Department of Health and Social Behavior and the Harvard Center for Society and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Nancy Krieger, PhD, Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (e-mail: nkrieger{at}hsph.harvard.edu).
Research on racism as a harmful determinant of population healthis in its infancy. Explicitly naming a long-standing problemlong recognized by those affected, this work has the potentialto galvanize inquiry and action, much as the 1962 publicationof the Kempe et al. scientific article on the "battered childsyndrome" dramatically increased attention toand promptednew research onthe myriad consequences of child abuse,a known yet neglected social phenomenon. To further work onconnections between racism and health, the author addresses3 interrelated issues: (1) links between racism, biology, andhealth; (2) methodological controversies over how to study theimpact of racism on health; and (3) debates over whether racismor class underlies racial/ethnic disparities in health.
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