Health and Other Unassailable Values

This compelling work offers new ways of thinking about the construction of health as a core value in contemporary society. The book examines how the concept of health carries with it important moral, political and economic understandings and is employed in arguments about how people should think and behave. Bell links the discussion to notions of evidence and ethics and considers how these values bolster each other. The chapters contain a range of case study material, covering topics such as cancer, smoking, e-cigarettes, addiction, genital cutting and obesity. Written in a clear and engaging style, this volume will be of interest to students and scholars working across a number of fields, including medical anthropology and public health

Kirsten Bell is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Roehampton, UK.

Part I: Health 1. Lifestyle and the Rise of Epidemiology 2. Nudging and Other Theories of 'Health Behaviour' 3. Tertiary Prevention and the Teachable Moment Part II: Evidence 4. Medicine Acquires a Base 5. RCTs and the Unencumbered Human 6. Systematic Reviews and the Behavioural Turn Part III: Ethics 7. Medicine Acquires Ethics 8. Consent and the Informed Patient 9. Health, Choice and Human Rights