Refiguring "race": Epidemiology, racialized biology, and biological expressions of race relations

Given growing appreciation of how race/ethnicity is a social, not biologica l, construct, some epidemiologists are proposing that studies omit data on "race" and instead collect better socioeconomic data. This suggestion, howe ver, ignores a growing body of evidence on how noneconomic as well as econo mic aspects of racial discrimination are embodied and harm health across th e lifecourse. Developing a critical epidemiology of social inequalities in health will, at the very least, require incorporating thoughtful measures o f race/ethnicity and social class in epidemiological studies and public hea lth surveillance systems.