The way in which economic development transforms the material basis of human social interaction and the widespread belief that the advanced industrial countries suffer from some kind of "social malaise" make it increasingly important to develop good indicators of the hitherto unmeasurable...

Despite increasing interest in macrosocial determinants of health, progress has been hampered by a lack of information on contextual factors and a lack of clarity in defining aspects of the social environment which may be important. A theoretical and empirical approach to measuring social...

Population health tends to be better in societies where income is more equally distributed. Recent evidence suggests that many other social problems, including mental illness, violence, imprisonment, lack of trust, teenage births, obesity, drug abuse, and poor educational performance of...