Rethinking the social structuring of health: Toward an epidemiological sociology

This paper engages with ongoing debates on the limitations of social epidemiology in explaining the social structuring of health. While the field has been highly successful in documenting the patterned distribution of health outcomes across social groups, it remains largely anchored in an epidemiological paradigm that prioritises identifying statistical associations over explaining underlying social processes. Building on this limitation, the paper argues for a reorientation towards what can be defined as an epidemiological sociology, in which sociological theory plays a central role in shaping research questions, analytical strategies, and the interpretation of empirical findings. In doing so, it argues for re-centring sociological thinking in the study of health, emphasising the role of agency, social mechanisms, and meaning-making processes. By advancing a more integrated perspective on the relationship between social conditions and health – illustrated through a critical engagement with research strands such as intersectionality, social network analysis, agent-based modelling, experimental psychosocial interventions, behavioural economics, qualitative methods, biological pathways, and neighbourhood effects – the paper contributes to ongoing efforts to bridge sociology and epidemiology. It ultimately suggests that a stronger incorporation of sociological insights can support the development of more effective and equitable public health interventions by targeting the mechanisms through which health inequalities emerge.