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Barriers to Knowledge Production, Knowledge Translation, and Urban Health Policy Change: Ideological, Economic, and Political Considerations

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Abstract

In this paper, we consider social forces that affect the processes of both knowledge production and knowledge translation in relation to urban health research. First, we briefly review our conceptual model, derived from a social-conflict framework, to outline how unequal power relations and health inequalities are causally linked. Second, we critically discuss ideological, political, and economic barriers that exist within academia that affect knowledge production related to urban health and health inequalities. Third, we broaden the scope of our analysis to examine how the ideological, political, and economic environment beyond the academy creates barriers to health equity policy making. We conclude with some key questions about the role that knowledge translation can possibly play in light of these constraints on research and policy for urban health.

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Notes

  1. In the most extreme case, the government may even take strict steps to silence researchers and stop the production of equity-oriented knowledge. Powerful examples of this can be found in authoritarian regimes which subject academics with egalitarian views to various penalties such as labor market discrimination.19 A particularly notorious example is Franco's regime in Spain (1936–1977), where university professors were jailed and tortured for teaching egalitarian perspectives.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments provided by the Journal of Urban Health's reviewers.

This work has been funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) under grant no. 101693, entitled, “Power, Politics, and the Use of Health Equity Research” and by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea under grant no. R1010861, entitled, “Social Risks.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Carles Muntaner & Edwin Ng

  2. Department of Healthcare Management, Korea University, Jeongneung 3-Dong, Seoul, Seongbuk-Gu, 136-703, Republic of Korea

    Haejoo Chung

  3. Centre for Research on Inner City Health at in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Keenan Research Centre of St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada

    Kelly Murphy

  4. GREDS/EMCONET, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Carles Muntaner

Authors
  1. Carles Muntaner
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  2. Haejoo Chung
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  3. Kelly Murphy
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  4. Edwin Ng
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Correspondence to Haejoo Chung.

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Muntaner, C., Chung, H., Murphy, K. et al. Barriers to Knowledge Production, Knowledge Translation, and Urban Health Policy Change: Ideological, Economic, and Political Considerations. J Urban Health 89, 915–924 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9699-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-012-9699-1

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