Sociologists in public health: marginal observers or mainstream collaborators?

This article considers why sociology and public health do not collaborate more frequently and what sociologists might need to do to enhance their contributions to public health. It highlights a group of sociologists who have worked alongside public health practitioners that suggest ways to enhance sociology’s accessibility and use within public health, deriving from a workshop conducted in 2022


IntroductIon
At first glance, sociology and public health should make for good partners.Both disciplines address the social, environmental, and community contexts of embodiment and well-being.Both are concerned with social inequality, social justice, and the politics of policy-making.Both are staffed by committed professionals who engage with the public, community leaders, and stakeholders to make a difference to people's lives.
However, the marginal influence of sociology within uK public health became apparent during the pandemic 1 in its role in uK Government scientific advisory groups.sociological insights were missing, for instance, in responses to class, ethnic, and gender variations in infection and careseeking. 2the congruity of the disciplines has been recognised in recent uK public health guidance [3][4][5] which identifies a need to enhance public health's collaborative work with sociologists.so why is it that sociology and public health do not collaborate more?And what might sociologists do to enhance their contributions to public health?Here, a group of sociologists suggest some solutions, deriving from a workshop conducted in 2022.

BarrIers to collaBoratIon Between PuBlIc HealtH and socIology
Much of the failure of sociology to contribute more substantively to public health policy and practice derives from disciplinary boundaries. 6,7First, unlike psychologists and economists, 'sociologists' are predominantly employed within academic centres; physically distant from public health practitioners, activists, and policymakers; and driven (by university managerial metrics) to target outputs in often inaccessible academic journals.second, the evidence-based model of healthcare replicated in public health 8 has devalued sociological knowledge often generated through qualitative methods and theoretical frameworks, prioritising instead meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.A sociological perspective requires alternatives to established experimental methods for evaluating the impact of planned interventions in collective terms.
Finally, the disciplines can sometimes diverge in their worldviews, despite a focus on inequality.public health models of social determinants of health 9,10 can reify 'the social' as contextual risk factors for individual health outcomes 11 overlooking diversities in what constitutes a 'healthy life' and the unequal distribution of power within societies.social theories of power, however, are multiple and contested within the discipline 12 and can seem abstract and inaccessible to public health practitioners and policymakers concerned with the immediate practical challenges of health and social inequalities.

aPProacHes tHat can Harness socIology's contrIButIon to PolIcy and PractIce
sociologists need to interrogate their conventional model of research.As Karvonen et al. 13

suggest,
This requires new forms of data production and more intense interaction with end users and stakeholders . . .This means stepping out of the traditional superiority position . . .into a position that is accountable and dialogical with the 'publics', whether lay people or other professionals.
Where sociologists have made a difference, often they have found ways to locate themselves physically or embed themselves and their research activities within practice communities.in the uK, the university of Huddersfield has seconded sociologists to work at Kirklees District Council to develop tools to assess health inequalities and re-purpose impact assessments to enhance practice. 14 March 2024 Vol 144 no 2 l Perspectives in Public Health 73 Sociologists in public health: marginal observers or mainstream collaborators?