There is much to like in the argument presented by Clare Bambra. Epidemiology (and public health generally) has much to learn from the social sciences and the reverse is also true. And Bambra is surely correct to raise concerns about the associated risks including the "engrained caution and purism of epidemiology" and the excessive deference to experimental research designs before acting. However, in order to effectively manage and profit from "the interface between social science and epidemiology" it is essential that epidemiologists and their public health colleagues engage with the broad range of social science including, and perhaps especially, political science. In many discussion of the linkage between epidemiology and the social sciences there are repeated references to the insights of psychology, economics and sociology but few if any direct references are made to political science. This is ironic given the sheer size of the political science enterprise. It is also tragic insofar as the goal of much of the writing on the social and economic determinants of health is to encourage action on these determinants often, if not primarily, by means of the state. Political science has much to say about the why, what and how of state action. Fore example, having highlighted the association between social inequality and poor health, while it is reasonable to call, as Bambra does, for income redistribution, this is but the start. Contemporary political science (including political theory) can offer a great deal of insight into why inequality is on the rise (e.g., Pierson, Paul, and Jacob S. Hacker. 2010. Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. New York: Simon & Schuster.), why this varies between states, what alternative exist for ensuring more redistribution, and how to counter the inevitable arguments that this would be unfair or unwise (e.g., Cohen, G. A. 2008. Rescuing Justice and Equality. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press).

Conflict of Interest:

None declared