The present article offers an overview of one of the most successful theoretical frameworks in biomedical research on interactions between society and health – cultural consonance model. Formulated by William Dressler as a result of two decades of empirical research on health disparities in the United States and Brazil, cultural consonance offers insight into the relationship between individual’s inability to live up to a societal standard in their behavior or lifestyle, and negative health outcomes. In the present publication the intellectual roots, up-to-date key findings and current directions in cultural consonance research are discussed.