The social context of behaviour

In chapter 5 it was argued that the biomedical model of health was inadequate in explaining the patterns of mortality and morbidity for populations and individuals. A biopsychosocial model of health was proposed and a brief outline of the social determinants of health presented. This chapter takes the 'social' aspects of the biopsychosocial model of health and examines the evidence, debates and theories that argue that illness and disease for individuals, populations and nations is not simply a matter of germs and viruses (biomedical) or individual psychology and behaviour (biopsychological) but a complex interaction between the social system of a given society and the individual (biopsychosocial) and their particular genetic inheritance (biomedical)