This open access book explores the question of who or what 'the public' is within 'public health' in post-war Britain. Drawing on historical research on the place of the public in public health in Britain from the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948, the book presents a new perspective on the relationship between state and citizen. Focusing on health education, health surveys, heart disease and the development of vaccination policy and practice, the book establishes that 'the public' was not one thing but many. It considers how public health policy makers and practitioners imagined the public or publics. These publics were not mere constructions; they had agency and the ability to 'speak back' to public health. The nature of publicness changed during the latter half of the twentieth century, and this book argues that the relationship between the public and public health offers a powerful lens through which to examine such shifts.

This open access title explores the changing role of the 'public' in public health policy and practice in post-war Britain, through to the present day Focuses on several key issues in twentieth-century public health, including the changing nature of health education, the health survey, the response to heart disease, and the development of vaccination policy and practice Presents a new perspective on the relationship between state and citizen in the post-war period

Autorentext

Alex Mold is Associate Professor in History and Director of the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Peder Clark is a Research Assistant on the Placing the Public in Public Health project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

Gareth Millward is a Wellcome Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, UK.

Daisy Payling is a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Essex, UK.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 The Public and Public Health.- 3 Imagining Publics.- 4 Speaking Back.- 5 Changing Publicness.- 6 Conclusion.