[afro-nets] Proximal, Distal, and the Politics of Causation: What's Level Got to Do With It?

["Claudio Schuftan" <cschuftan@phmovement.org>]

Cross posted from: EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org

Proximal, Distal, and the Politics of Causation: What's Level Got to Do With It? 

Krieger Nancy
Am J Public Health – February 2008; 98:221-230. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.111278

American Journal of Public Health  - February 2008, Vol 98, No. 2 

URL: http://www.ajph.org/

Abstract:
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/2/221?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=krieger&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

"….Causal thinking in public health, and especially in the growing literature on social determinants of health, routinely employs the terminology of proximal (or downstream) and distal (or upstream). I argue that the use of these terms is problematic and adversely affects public health research, practice, and causal accountability. At issue are distortions created by conflating measures of space, time, level, and causal strength.

To make this case, I draw on an ecosocial perspective to show how public health got caught in the middle of the problematic proximal–distal divide—surprisingly embraced by both biomedical and social determinist frameworks—and propose replacing the terms proximal and distal with explicit language about levels, pathways, and power…."


For reprints requests:

Nancy Krieger, PhD Professor, 
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge 717 Boston, MA 02115 (USA)
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/NancyKrieger.html
mailto:vnkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu

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Mrs. Ana Lucia Ruggiero (WDC) 
mailto:ruglucia@paho.org