Why are some types of societies more successful than others at promoting individual and collective well-being? Focusing on population health as an indicator of social success, this book opens up new perspectives on the ways in which social relations condition health and the public policies that address it. Based on four years of dialogue among scholars from diverse disciplines, it offers social epidemiologists broader views of the social determinants of health and social scientists a sense of the fascinating puzzles of population health. The chapters consider health inequalities in the developing, as well as developed, world. They locate their roots, not only in economic resources, but in the social resources provided by the institutions and cultural repertoires constitutive of social relations. They examine the AIDS epidemic in Africa, the sources of the health gradient, the role of collective imaginaries, destigmatization strategies, and the historical basis for effective health policies.

Cambridge University Press (published: August 24th, 2009)

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Societies around the world have experienced a flood of information from diverse channels originating beyond local communities and even national borders, transmitted through the rapid expansion of cosmopolitan communications. For more than half a century, conventional interpretations, Norris and Inglehart argue, have commonly exaggerated the potential threats arising from this process. A series of firewalls protect national cultures. This book develops a new theoretical framework for understanding cosmopolitan communications and uses it to identify the conditions under which global communications are most likely to endanger cultural diversity. The authors analyze empirical evidence from both the societal level and the individual level, examining the outlook and beliefs of people in a wide range of societies. The study draws on evidence from the World Values Survey, covering 90 societies in all major regions worldwide from 1981 to 2007. The conclusion considers the implications of their findings for cultural policies.

• Offers a new theory seeking to explain the impact of cosmopolitan communications, and it tests this against survey evidence derived from multiple countries and contexts
• Provides new evidence about the causes and consequences of cosmopolitan communications based on the first release of the 2005-7 wave of the World Values Survey, conducted in almost 60 societies, along with multiple other sources of data
• Examines the implications of cosmopolitan communications for national identities, social and economic values, and attitudes towards democracy in a wide range of contexts

Introduction:
     1. Is cultural diversity under threat?;
     2. Theoretical framework;
Part I. Firewalls:
     3. Markets;
     4. Poverty;
     5. Classifying societies;
Part II. Consequences:
     6. Citizens: nation and cosmopolitan identities;
     7. Consumers: economic values;
     8. Morality: traditional values, gender equality, and sexuality;
     9. Activists: support for democracy, self-expression values, and human rights;
Part III. Conclusions:
     10. Cultural convergence over time?;
     11. The implications for cultural policies;
Technical Appendix A. Concepts and measures;
Technical Appendix B. List of countries;
Technical Appendix C. Methods.