Health and Social Justice Studies

Abstract

Health and social justice studies (HSJS) builds on close reading and archival research methods to examine the ways in which diverse people experience health and healthcare at the often highly charged intersection of culture, law, economics, and biomedical systems. This scholarly method focuses on socioeconomic disparities among groups in a society and examines how ordinary people experience health and care in everyday social environments. Health and social justice studies research with a history focus reconstructs particular health and healthcare disparities at particular times and examines reform movements aimed at reducing these disparities, with the objective of suggesting ways to reduce disparities in the future. By privileging marginalized people, this research method advances the goals of person-centered care and population health equity in health humanities.