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IJE Advance Access originally published online on March 3, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology 2005 34(2):477-478; doi:10.1093/ije/dyi035
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

Letters to the Editor

Social capital and the history of mortality in Britain

Peter Razzell* and Christine Spence

Essex University, Department of History, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ, UK

* Corresponding author. E-mail: peter.razzell@clara.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Sirs—Szreter and Woolcock have argued that demographic history has a significant contribution to make in the debate about the role of social capital in shaping health patterns. They illustrate this by focusing on the impact of social welfare on mortality in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While agreeing with the authors about the importance of history, we will present evidence to suggest different conclusions about the historical role of social capital.

The authors' thesis on the historical relationship between social capital and mortality may be summarized in their own words as follows:

The British polity had by the beginning of the 19th century established itself as the most prosperous, socially cohesive, and socially secure in Europe, proven through the capacity of its national security system, the Poor Law, to protect its citizens from local famines since the 17th century .... There was abundant and burgeoning bridging and linking . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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Home page
 Int J EpidemiolHome page
P. Razzell and C. Spence
Social capital and the history of mortality in Britain
Int. J. Epidemiol., October 1, 2005; 34(5): 1163 - 1164.
[Full Text] [PDF]

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 Int J EpidemiolHome page
S. Szreter
Response
Int. J. Epidemiol., April 1, 2005; 34(2): 479 - 480.
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