Fassin D
CRESP, Inserm-Université Paris 13, UFR SMBH, 74, rue Marcel-Cachin, 93017 Bobigny Cedex.
Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 2003 Sep;51(4):403-13.
In recent years, social capital has emerged in epidemiological studies as a new concept, improving our understanding of the relationships between social inequalities and health inequalities. This concept, borrowed from social sciences, has three distinct sociological sources. However, only the most recent theory, which emphasizes the role of civic trust and is useful for analysis at community level, has been used in epidemiological studies. Social capital poses three kinds of problem: i) theoretical problems, because it is defined by its effects rather than by its causes, and because it is presumed that these effects are positive, although they can in fact be negative; ii) methodological problems, because of the heterogeneity of empirical scales, from micro to macro, and because of the diversity of its semantic content, including contradictions; iii) political problems, because of the emphasis placed on individual responsibility and due to the imposition of a model of civic virtue, to the detriment of structural analysis.
近年来，社会资本作为一个新概念出现在流行病学研究中，增进了我们对社会不平等与健康不平等之间关系的理解。这个从社会科学中借鉴而来的概念有三个不同的社会学来源。然而，只有最新的理论，即强调公民信任的作用且对社区层面的分析有用的理论，被用于流行病学研究。社会资本存在三类问题：其一，理论问题，因为它是由其效果而非原因来定义的，并且假定这些效果是积极的，尽管实际上它们可能是消极的；其二，方法问题，因为从微观到宏观的实证尺度具有异质性，且其语义内容多样，包括矛盾之处；其三，政治问题，因为强调个人责任，且由于强加了一种公民美德模式，而损害了结构分析。
