IN THIS ECLECTIC ISSUE, WE ASK WHETHER INVOLVEMENT IN CIVIC SOCIETY IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND TACKLE THE VEXED ISSUE OF TERMS RELATING TO ETHNICITY AND RACE

Social capital has become a focus for considerable tension in recent years, as researchers attempt to understand the mediating factors between structural aspects of society and health outcomes. The related question of “is involvement in civil society groups good for your health?” is tackled this month by Ziersch and Baum, who conclude that such involvement is good for a community but not necessarily for the individual. Meanwhile, another research area that is fraught with methodological problems, the definition of terms relating to ethnicity and race, is addressed in a Glossary from Edinburgh by Raj Bhopal. He leaves us with a set of challenges for epidemiological research. And to complete a triad of social science puzzles, Ann Bowling, in an Editorial linked to a research paper by a group from the Netherlands explores the factors leading …