In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The text examines the changing historical discourses of social differentiation and distinction in one of the most ethnically and politically complex regions of the world, issues covered include cultural pluralism, nationalism and ethnic dispersal

Despite the recent economic crisis, mainland Southeast Asia continues to experience increasing economic integration of previously isolated rural hinterlands, especially in the upland areas of Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Yunnan in China, where demographic pressures together with the development of infrastructure and increased market-orientation of production combine to bring about significant economic and social change in rural areas. These changes have also led to significant environmental degradation such as deforestation, disturbance of water flows, and depletion of biodiversity resources. These and other related issues are addressed in this volume.

A fascinating examination of the relationship between civilization and inequality from one of history’s greatest minds The first man to erect a fence around a piece of land and declare it his own founded civil society—and doomed mankind to millennia of war and famine. The dawn of modern civilization, argues Jean-Jacques Rousseau in this essential treatise on human nature, was also the beginning of inequality. One of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment, Rousseau based his work in compassion for his fellow man. The great crime of despotism, he believed, was the raising of the cruel above the weak. In this landmark text, he spells out the antidote for man’s ills: a compassionate revolution to pull up the fences and restore the balance of mankind. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

This study examines the evolution of state institutions since 1945 in Vietnam in order to understand the continuities since the commencement of market-oriented economic reforms as well as the extent to which rapid social change has altered authority relations and decision-making processes. It looks particularly at relations between the Communist Party, government and legislature and at those between central and local authorities. What emerges is a more democratic or pluralist system than is portrayed in the 'totalitarian' and 'bureaucratic authoritarian' models. This helps to explain the apparent flexibility of the Vietnamese political system in the face of rapid economic transition, as well as strengths and weaknesses in the democratization process.