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Cited by 744Health disparities and outcomesRacial and Ethnic Identity ResearchPublic Health and Social Inequalities

Understanding Racial-ethnic Disparities in Health: Sociological Contributions

Open access
Williams, David R., Sternthal, Michelle·2010·Journal of Health and Social Behavior
DOI 10.1177/0022146510383838PMC PMC3468327
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Abstract

This article provides an overview of the contribution of sociologists to the study of racial and ethnic inequalities in health in the United States. It argues that sociologists have made four principal contributions. First, they have challenged and problematized the biological understanding of race. Second, they have emphasized the primacy of social structure and context as determinants of racial differences in disease. Third, they have contributed to our understanding of the multiple ways in which racism affects health. Finally, sociologists have enhanced our understanding of the ways in which migration history and status can affect health. Sociological insights on racial disparities in health have important implications for the development of effective approaches to improve health and reduce health inequities.

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  • Epidemiological and public health researchers have increasingly shifted their practices towards the study of social determinants of health, and in particular, the multiple ways racism affects health outcomes.

    “Epidemiological and public health researchers have increasingly shifted their practices towards the study of social determinants of health, and in particular, the multiple ways racism affects health outcomes [41, 61, 71, 117, 119, 120].”

    From Towards a critical race methodology in algorithmic fairness (2020) · cites this paper as [120]

    The “Racism and Health” section describes multiple ways racism contributes to health disparities, including discrimination and residential segregation. But the paper characterizes these as contributions of sociological research; it does not establish that epidemiological and public health researchers have increasingly shifted their practices toward studying them. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Williams, D. R., & Sternthal, M.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
ORCID
Williams, David R.
Venue
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2010-03
Volume
51
Issue
1_suppl
Pages
S15-S27
ISSN
  • 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
  • 2150-6000
DOI
10.1177/0022146510383838
PMC
PMC3468327
OpenAlex
W2131401975
Cited by
744
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 77 · 2021: 90 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 62 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 52 · 2016: 41 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 16
FWCI
4.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Health and Social Behavior (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • University Libraries (University of Maryland) (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (University of Maryland College Park)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (P01AG020166)
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (T32ES007069, T32-ES07069-29)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
Keywords
racial and ethnic health disparities, sociology of race, racism and health, migration history, migration status, health disparities, social determinants of health
MeSH terms
Emigration and Immigration, Health Policy, Humans, Prejudice, Social Change, Sociology, Medical, United States, Racial Groups, Health Status Disparities, Healthcare Disparities

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