From the notion of social determination to one of social determinants of health

ABSTRACT The article critically discusses the concept of social determinants of health, conveyed officially by the World Health Organization, from the discussion of its conceptual perspective that differs greatly from that coined around the 1970's by Latin American medical-social current, of social determination of health. The discussion reveals the philosophical principles that underpin the notion of social determinants of health from the arguments based by the positivist sociology of Émile Durkheim. We conclude that such notion identifies a fragmented 'social', that reflects practical and political consequences and it is insufficient to analyze the social changes of contemporaneity.

摘要 本文批判性地讨论了世界卫生组织（World Health Organization）官方提出的健康社会决定因素（social determinants of health）概念，其讨论视角与20世纪70年代左右拉丁美洲医学社会流派提出的健康社会决定论概念大相径庭。本次讨论依托埃米尔·涂尔干（Émile Durkheim）的实证主义社会学理论，揭示了支撑健康社会决定因素这一概念的哲学原理。本文最终得出结论：该概念所界定的“社会”具有碎片化特征，既反映了实践与政治层面的后果，也不足以分析当代社会的变迁。