Jo C Phelan, PhD

Professor Emerita of Sociomedical Sciences and Special Lecturer in Sociomedical Sciences

Overview

Jo Phelan holds a master's degree in psychology and a Ph.D. in sociology. She is currently Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Social Inequalities and Health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Her broad research focus is on social inequalities, particularly on the interplay between social structural conditions and social psychological processes in producing, maintaining or changing those inequalities. Her current research interests include socioeconomic inequalities as "fundamental causes" of inequalities in health and mortality, public conceptions of mental illness, and stigma, particularly stigma associated with mental illnesses. With two grants from the National Human Genome Research Institute, she has recently been examining the potential impact of the genetics revolution on stigma and discrimination, including how genetic and other causes of stigmatized characteristics are presented in the news media, and whether genetic causal attributions for stigmatized characteristics, such as mental illness and obesity, increase or decrease stigmatizing attitudes among the general public. With grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation, she is s also examining the relationship between stigma and related concepts and processes of status and prejudice. Her co-edited book Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health (1999) was awarded the prize for best publication by the American Sociological Association's Section of the Sociology of Mental Health.

Academic Appointments

Professor Emerita of Sociomedical Sciences and Special Lecturer in Sociomedical Sciences

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

BA, 1975 University of California
MA, 1990 The State University of New York
PhD, 1991 The State University of New York
MA, 1993 The State University of New York

Editorial Boards

Editorial Board, Journal of Health and Social Behavior

Honors & Awards

RWJ Health Policy Investigator Award, 1996

Research

Dr. Jo Phelan's research interests include social stigma, conceptions of mental illness, the impact of the "genetics revolution" on the stigma of mental illness, attitudes and beliefs relating to social inequality and its legitimation, as well as social inequalities in health and mortality.

Research Interests

Community Health

Selected Publications

Aneshensel CS, and Phelan JC, editors Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health Kluwer Academic/Plenum. New York 1999

Phelan JC, Link BG, Diez-Roux A, Kawachi I, Levin B Fundamental causes of social inequality in mortality: a test of the theory Journal of Health and Social Behavior 45 265-285 2004

Phelan JC, Link BG Fear of people with mental illnesses: the role of personal and impersonal contact and exposure to threat or harm Journal of Health and Social Behavior 45 68-80. 2004

Phelan JC, Cruz-Rojas R, Reiff M Genes and stigma: the connection between perceived genetic etiology and attitudes and beliefs about mental illness Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills 6 159-85 2002

Link BG, Phelan JC Conceptualizing stigma Annual Review of Sociology 27 363-85 2001

Phelan JC, Link BG, Stueve A, Pescosolido BA Public conceptions of mental illness in 1950 and 1996: what is mental illness and is it to be feared? Journal of Health and Social Behavior 41 188-207 2000

Phelan JC, and Link BG Who are 'the homeless'?: reconsidering the stability and composition of the homeless population American Journal of Public Health 89 1334-1338 1999

Phelan JC, Link BG, Stueve A, Moore RE The stigma of homelessness: the impact of the label 'homeless' on attitudes toward a poor person Social Psychology Quarterly 60 323-37 1997

Phelan JC, Link BG, Stueve A, Moore RE Education, social liberalism and economic conservatism: the case of attitudes toward homeless people American Sociological Review 60 126-140 1995

Link BG, Phelan JC Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease Journal of Health and Social Behavior extra issue 80-94 1995