Philosophical problems with social research on health inequalities

This paper offers a realist critique of social research on health inequalit ies. A conspectus of the field of health inequalities research identifies t wo main research approaches: the positivist quantitative survey and the int erpretivist qualitative 'case study'. We argue that both approaches suffer from serious philosophical limitations. We suggest that a turn to realism o ffers a productive 'third way' both for the development of health inequalit y research in particular and for the social scientific understanding of the complexities of the social world in general.