Public or policy understanding of history?

Social History of Medicine

Volumn 16, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 511-523

  Berridge, Virginia ^a  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

AIDS; Archives; Cannabis; Foot and mouth; History; Policy; Public understanding of science; Research; Social science

Indexed keywords

EID: 3843050050     PISSN: 0951631X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/shm/16.3.511     Document Type: Review

References (38)

1. C. Sengoopta, 'Roy Porter', The Gazette (Society for the Social History of Medicine), 26 April 2002, 2.
2. R. Samuel, Theatres of Memory. Past and Present in Contemporary Culture, vol. I (London, 1994).
3. E. Fee and D. Fox, 'Introduction: AIDS, Public Policy, and Historical Inquiry', in E. Fee and D. Fox (eds), AIDS and the Burdens of History (Berkeley, 1988), 1-11.
4. M. Bulmer (ed.), Social Policy Research (Basingstoke, 1978); M. Bulmer (ed.), Social Science and Social Policy (London, 1986).
5. M. Bulmer (ed.), Social Policy Research (Basingstoke, 1978); M. Bulmer (ed.), Social Science and Social Policy (London, 1986).
6. When I spoke on this topic a few years ago at an ESRC and the Historians Conference held at the University of Keele, it was clear that some historians did not find the idea to their taste.
7. Website reference: http:www.hist.cam.ac.uk/history_policy/index.html
8. Programmes for these can be obtained (for drugs and alcohol) from sarah.mars@lshtm.ac.uk and (for evidence and health) from omella.moscucd@lshtm. ac.uk
9. G. Matthews, 'Why Should Public Health include Housing?', in S. Griffiths and D. Hunter (eds), Perspectives in Public Health (Abingdon, 1999), 66-79.
10. R. Porter, 'History Says No to the Policeman's Response to AIDS', British Medical Journal, 293 (1986), 1589-90.
11. A. Woods, 'Kill or Cure?', Guardian, 28 February 2001.
12. The Times, 1 March 2001, 5. Woods remarks that they got neither her name nor her profession right.
13. Interview with Abigail Woods by Virginia Berridge, April 2002.
14. House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee, Ninth Report. Cannabis: The Scientific and Medical Evidence, pp. 1997-98 HL 151 (published 1998). See also House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee, Second Report. Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis. P.P. 200-01 HL50 (published 2001).
15. House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee, Ninth Report. Cannabis: The Scientific and Medical Evidence, pp. 1997-98 HL 151 (published 1998). See also House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee, Second Report. Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis. P.P. 200-01 HL50 (published 2001).
16. A. Gentleman, 'Ever Tried Cannabis? Prince asks MS sufferer', Guardian, 24 December 1998.
17. This was sometimes for use in childbirth and sometimes for period pains. One report said she had used cannabis for period pains in 1890. This occasioned ribald comment in a reader's letter. 'Was this', he asked, 'the late Victorian period?'
18. House of Commons Health Committee. Second Report. The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking. Volume I. Report and Proceedings of the Committee. Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations P.P. 1999-2000 HL 271.
19. For a survey of this use of history in policy-making, see V. Berridge, 'AIDS, Drugs and History', in R. Porter and M. Teich (eds), Drugs and Narcotics in History (Cambridge, 1995), 187-98.
20. Department of Health and Social Security, Public Health in England. The Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Future Development of the Public Health Function. P.P. 1987-88 (Cmd. 289), LV.
21. S. Marks, 'The Sources Bite Back: Historians and their Informants', paper at the Royal Historical Society Conference, 'The Responsibilities of the Historian', 16 February 2002.
22. R. Evans, Telling Lies about Hitler. History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial (New York, 2001).
23. P. Mandler, 'The Responsibilities of the Historian: An Update", Newsletter, Rayal Historical Society, Autumn 2002, 7.
24. C. H. Weiss, 'The Many Meanings of Research Utilization', in M. Bulmer (ed.), Social Science and Social Policy (London, 1986).
25. Woods' paper was also placed on the web as part of a judicial review of government policy, and from there, it spread even further, including the House of Commons library. Interview with Abigail Woods, April 2002.
26. For reviews of this literature, see V. Berridge and B. Thom, 'Research and Policy: What Determines the Relationship?', Policy Studies, 17(1) (1996), 23-34; V. Berridge and j. Stanton, 'Science and Policy: Historical Insights', Social Science and Medicine, 49(9) (1999), 1133-8.
27. For reviews of this literature, see V. Berridge and B. Thom, 'Research and Policy: What Determines the Relationship?', Policy Studies, 17(1) (1996), 23-34; V. Berridge and j. Stanton, 'Science and Policy: Historical Insights', Social Science and Medicine, 49(9) (1999), 1133-8.
28. I discuss the nineteenth-century uses of cannabis in England, including Russell Reynolds' recommendation, in V. Berridge and G. Edwards, Opium and the People, Opiate Use in Nineteenth-century England (London, 1981). Could the 1998 reports be a 'Chinese whispers' reinterpretation, perhaps via the House of Lords report?
29. In an interview, Abigail Woods noted how her original 'balanced' mode of presentation of the issues surrounding foot and mouth policy was changed by media presentation which needed a 'challenging' story line.
30. The media furore over the former deputy drug Czar, Mike Trace, and his involvement in a reform group, only confirms this reluctance.
31. C. Webster, 'The Parable of the Incompetent Steward', British journal of Health Care Management, 8(3) (2002), 113-14.
32. D. Wanless, Securing our Future Health: Taking a Long Term View, Final Report (London, 2002). House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Third Report. The Government's Drug Policy: Is It Working?, P.P. 2001-2, HC 318-1 (London, 2002).
33. D. Wanless, Securing our Future Health: Taking a Long Term View, Final Report (London, 2002). House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, Third Report. The Government's Drug Policy: Is It Working?, P.P. 2001-2, HC 318-1 (London, 2002).
34. Personal communications with the author.
35. For an introductory survey of the literature, see Berridge and Stanton, 'Science and Policy', 1133-8.
36. Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of Physicians, Drugs. Dilemmas and Choice. By a Working Party of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of Physicians (London, 2000), and personal communication to the author.
37. One historian mentioned the use of historical research at the local level to contribute to particular local issues in health care. Using historians for their archival and technical skills in research is not quite the same as policy advice, although it can lead into it.
38. For example, the concept of addiction and its history, which was to have been an issue for expert witnesses in a compensation battle over tranquilliser addiction