Abstract
Contemporary Sociology 39(3):362. First published May 4, 2010.
When news broke of a possible Swine Flu pandemic in May of 2009, the sudden threat of that particular disease caught most by surprise, although the scenario is a familiar one. Despite hubristic proclamations by public health scholars of the twentieth century that modern medicine would render microbial epidemics a thing of the past, the specter and the threat has only been exacerbated by globalization. In an economy which shifts untold tons of people and food across the globe daily, unforeseen diseases can quickly escalate beyond the control of policy makers. Consequently, public health research and policy have shifted from a paradigm of risk calculation to one of universal preparedness. In Biosecurity Interventions, Andrew Lakoff and Stephen Collier have assembled a collection of essays which attempt to summarize, integrate, and elaborate this new paradigm, with an eye to improving public health policy. Because the paradigm of universal preparedness includes not only traditional public health organizations, such as the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, but others such as those concerned with national security, one of the volume’s major goals is to address how different organizations, with different goals, can work together to tackle sudden infectious outbreaks.
Sociologists of health and public health scholars of all stripes will be piqued by the imminence of the topic. Those interested in inter-organizational and inter-institutional collaboration may benefit from the book’s engagement with these issues as well.