Placing the Public in Public Health in Post-War Britain, 1948-2012

This open access book explores the question of who or what 'the public' is within 'public health' in post-war Britain. Drawing on historical research on the place of the public in public health in Britain from the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, the book presents a new perspective on the relationship between state and citizen. Focusing on health education, health surveys, heart disease and the development of vaccination policy and practice, the book establishes that 'the public' was not one thing but many. It considers how public health policy makers and practitioners imagined the public or publics. These publics were not mere constructions; they had agency and the ability to 'speak back' to public health. The nature of publicness changed during the latter half of the twentieth century, and this book argues that the relationship between the public and public health offers a powerful lens through which to examine such shifts.

List of contents

1 Introduction.- 2 The Public and Public Health.- 3 Imagining Publics.- 4 Speaking Back.- 5 Changing Publicness.- 6 Conclusion.

About the author

Alex Mold is Associate Professor in History and Director of the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Peder Clark is a Research Assistant on the Placing the Public in Public Health project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Gareth Millward is a Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, UK.
Daisy Payling is a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Essex, UK.

Product details

• Authors: Peder Clark, Gareth Millward, Alex Mold, Daisy Payling
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 27.05.2019
• EAN: 9783030186845
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3018684-5
• No. of pages: 141
• Dimensions: 153 mm x 213 mm x 15 mm
• Weight: 324 g
• Illustrations: VIII, 141 p. 1 illus. in color.
• Series: Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Modern History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Geschichte, C, Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte, Geschichte der Medizin, History, Gesundheitssystem und Gesundheitswesen, Westeuropa, Social History, Social & cultural history, Open Access, History of Medicine, Political structure & processes, patients, Health Policy, Citizens, History, Modern, Modern History, History of Britain and Ireland, Great Britain—History, Medicine—History, Health systems & services, Medical policy, Doctors