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    Alcohol and alcohol effects: Constituting causality in alcohol epidemiology

    212968.pdf (341.6Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Hart, Aaron
    Moore, David
    Date
    2014
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    Hart, A. and Moore, D. 2014. Alcohol and alcohol effects: Constituting causality in alcohol epidemiology. Contemporary Drug Problems. 41 (Fall): pp. 393-416.
    Source Title
    Contemporary Drug Problems
    ISSN
    0091-4509
    School
    National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/38451
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Taking cues from Science and Technology Studies, we examine how one type of alcohol epidemiology constitutes the causality of alcohol health effects, and how three realities are made along the way: (1) alcohol is a stable agent that acts consistently to produce quantifiable effects; (2) these effects may be amplified or diminished by social or other factors but not mediated in other ways; and (3) alcohol effects observable at the population level are priorities for public health. We describe how these propositions are predicated upon several simplifications and that these simplifications have political implications, including the attribution of responsibility for health effects to a pharmacological substance; the deletion of other agentic forces that might share responsibility; and a prioritization of simple effects over complex effects. We argue that epidemiological research on alcohol might expand its range of ontological, epistemological and methodological practices to identify new ways of understanding and addressing health effects.

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