{"title":"Health capital: toward a conceptual framework for understanding the construction of individual health.","authors":"Anna Schneider-Kamp","doi":"10.1057/s41285-020-00145-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emerging perspectives of health as individualized and privatized capital seem promising to shed light on the construction of individual health in the face of the growing individualization of healthcare. This article reviews extant perspectives of health as capital, reflecting upon how a conceptualization of <i>health capital</i> might be conceived by two of the main contrasting traditions: human capital theory affiliated with the Chicago School of Economics and Bourdieusian concepts of social field and capital. Arguing that a Bourdieusian perspective is potentially more fruitful to capture the importance of social and cultural dimensions in the construction of individual health, this article arrives at a conceptualization of <b><i>health capital</i></b> as the <i>aggregate of the actual or potential resources possessed by a given agent that have the capacity to affect the position of agents in the social field of health.</i> Drawing on Bourdieu's conceptualization of forms of capital, this article discusses the efficacy, the legitimation, and the positioning of health capital, uncovering its potential for understanding contemporary trends in health practices and health discourse.</p>","PeriodicalId":46551,"journal":{"name":"Social Theory & Health","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1057/s41285-020-00145-x","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Theory & Health","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1057/s41285-020-00145-x","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2020/6/23 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"SOCIAL SCIENCES, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Emerging perspectives of health as individualized and privatized capital seem promising to shed light on the construction of individual health in the face of the growing individualization of healthcare. This article reviews extant perspectives of health as capital, reflecting upon how a conceptualization of health capital might be conceived by two of the main contrasting traditions: human capital theory affiliated with the Chicago School of Economics and Bourdieusian concepts of social field and capital. Arguing that a Bourdieusian perspective is potentially more fruitful to capture the importance of social and cultural dimensions in the construction of individual health, this article arrives at a conceptualization of health capital as the aggregate of the actual or potential resources possessed by a given agent that have the capacity to affect the position of agents in the social field of health. Drawing on Bourdieu's conceptualization of forms of capital, this article discusses the efficacy, the legitimation, and the positioning of health capital, uncovering its potential for understanding contemporary trends in health practices and health discourse.
期刊介绍:
Social Theory & Health provides an international scholarly forum for theoretical reflection and debate on contemporary health issues, many of which bear directly on the planning and delivery of services. The journal aims to consolidate, refine and extend theoretically informed work on the role of health in modern societies. Interest in issues of theory and health now informs many academic and practice-oriented disciplines and crosses discipline boundaries. The Editors encourage contributions from all relevant disciplines, as well as from those involved directly in front-line treatment and care. Contributions from the developing world are particularly welcome. The journal aims to include contributions from all theoretical perspectives.