Year: 1997
Type: article
Abstract: This Journal was founded as the British J7urnal ofSocial Medicine in 1947.It became the British J7urnal of Preventive and Social Medicine in 1953, and took on its current title, the JournalofEpidemiology and Community Health, in 1978.The founding of the Journal reflected the grow- ing interest in social medicine seen during the middle decades of this century.The failure to sustain this enthusiasm beyond its initial peak might be viewed as either indicative of a lack of substance in the discipline, or of its strategic incorporation within a broader view of the public health function.A re-examination of this could be helpful at a time when there is the potential to renew interest in the social origins and social prophylaxis of illness.While George Rosen' and Dorothy Porter2, among others, have discussed the ideas of the pioneers of social medicine, little attention has been paid to the actual content of their early work.This paper looks back at the vision of the early practitioners of social medicine in this country, and contrasts the ideas with the practice as evidenced by the papers appearing in this Journal in its first five years.The reasons for the subsequent fall from favour of the term social medicine are discussed and finally the content of some of the Journal's recent papers is considered.
DOI: 10.1136/jech.51.1.2
Authors: S Murphy, G D Smith
Institutions: Central Middlesex Hospital, University of Bristol
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2056018256