Sociology, health data, and health equity: One state agency as a site of social change

Abstract

Governmental agencies are important sources of information on the health and well-being of citizens. Recently, improvement in the data collection and reporting of race, ethnicity, social class, and primary language has received considerable attention by national and state governmental bodies in the US as we try to accommodate the social and health needs of an increasingly diverse population. This article draws on the author’s work as a sociologist in a state governmental public health agency to improve the collection and reporting of social data for the purpose of describing health disparities across subpopulation groups and informing equitable health policies. It illustrates how sociologists in governmental agencies can be agents of social change in broad-based collaborative efforts to improve population health and social policy. It describes the context in which a governmental agency is uniquely positioned to be a site of social change.