Social Sciences and Humanities in Health in ABRASCO: The construction of social theory in health

Abstract

The development of recent social thinking in health in Brazil is associated with the establishment of the Public Health field and the Brazilian Association of Graduate Studies in Public Health (ABRASCO). The area of Social Sciences in Health was created together with the founding of ABRASCO. This article presents the main aspects related to the establishment and institutionalization of Social Sciences in Health in ABRASCO, based on interviews with its presidents and the coordinators of the Social Sciences Committees from 1995 to 2011. The interviews allowed capturing and analyzing the context in which this field was established and its relevance and history in Public Health as a whole, grouped in five analytical categories: (1) the development of Social Sciences and the Humanities in Health; (2) interdisciplinarity in Public Health; (3) the contribution of Social Sciences to Public Health; (4) Social Sciences in Health and the “traditional” Social Sciences; and (5) challenges for Social Sciences and the Humanities in Health.