Economic Inequality Harms Societies: Video Analysis

There is a strong correlation between the social class of an individual and the health outcomes. Health and class disparities are the result of the social gradient of health within society. Health inequalities are not the result of an individuals behaviour towards their health but due to the structural issues within society which create health disparities. Their needs to be a greater emphasis on recognising and understanding class as a social determinant of health, through the examination of the sociology theory Marxism. By examining social class from a Marxist perspective allows for an understating of why and how health inequalities exist in order to implement effective health intervention.

The need to distribute wealth amongst the population is another way to promote health equity as it pertains to ensuring that the balance of power is not too one-sided by the rich. Another example of improving the health state is to improve the gap of economic levels by making sure that the poor does not get poorer and the middle class does not become too strained. Lastly, health is dependent on the resources available. If communities are empowered and advocate for change in their health, there is a better chance of improving the health disparities within communities (Adelman, 2008).

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1978), health can be defined not only in terms of absence of disease, injury or infirmity, but also, as a state of mental, physical and social well-being. Over the last decades, many studies have emphasized the role of social circumstances on health status. The tight link between health and a wide range of socioeconomic, environmental and demographics factors have been increasingly recognized and proffer an alternative perspective on how to consider public health, social justice and even restructuring of the health care system (Daniels et. al., 2004). The increasingly acknowledgement that health is also a result of cumulative experience of social conditions and exposure to environmental

Although different societies have varying perceptions of what is an acceptable level of equity, it is generally accepted that inequality has an impact on key social determinants such as health, wellbeing, political trust and violence. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) highlight the social costs of inequality on a whole range of aspects of our lives. Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) argue that if inequality were reduced, there would be significant reductions in mental illness, murder rates, imprisonment and an improvement in social mobility (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009).

In this task there will be a discussion on the impact of social inequalities in society. I will explain how the different social groups’ including religion, ethnicity, age and gender can benefit the society but also face difficulties in terms of health and well being.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Satcher (2010) reports that health inequities are “systematic, avoidable, and unjust” disparities (p. 6). He also states that the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that social conditions are the most important determinant of a person’s health. Social conditions “determine access to health services and influence lifestyle choices” (Satcher, 2010, p. 6). These determinants must be addressed in order to reduce health inequity. Inequity can be

“Among all the known contributors to health, access to health care plays a minor role. Until the United States definitively addresses inequities in those social and economic domains that are key to health, such as behaviors, education, income, and environment, inequalities in health will persist” (Lyon, et. al, 2014).

In this paper the authors are attempting to define the concepts of poverty, equity, and human rights in relation to health (Braverman 2003). This paper also proposes five general areas of focus that can be used to address poverty, equity, and human rights through health sectors. The paper also assert that poverty, equity, and human rights are connected in concept and operation leading the reader to become more aware of areas to strengthen the work need to improve poverty, equity, and human rights when related to health outcomes.

Health and social justice have continued to be a major problem that affects the way people live and chance of illness, and consequent risk of premature death. The recent report from the World Health Organization shows that health disparities have continued to persist within and among countries and different regions of the world. For example, infectious diseases and undernutrition are common in poor and developing countries (WHO, 2018). The gap is even much worse between the rural and urban dwellers because of the economic differences and availability of healthcare services. Although some of the developed nations have attempted

Despite this, universal access to health care does not reduce health inequalities in and of itself. The increasing problem of income inequality needs to be addressed in order to decrease income-related health inequalities, and to create a more equitable health care system. Raising public awareness of income-related health inequalities is crucial in order for society as a whole to act upon the problem and for the government to make any policy changes and implement interventions to address income inequality. To alleviate the obstruction of income inequality, the Canadian government should minimize education inequity by investing in early childhood education, and improve housing affordability through the implementation of a national public housing scheme. Although there are other factors of income inequality that have not been addressed in this paper such as unemployment and taxation policies; the lack of public awareness of income-related health inequalities, increase in unaffordable housing, and education inequity are the most significant issues, and must given priority.

Did you know that according to The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, “employment fell by 3.1 million jobs during 2008, and by another 4.7 million jobs in 2009?” (1). Lots of people are recently losing jobs and the income inequality is gradually increasing. Paul Krugman, in his article “Confronting Inequality,” explains why we should be worrying about the increasing inequality and provides the readers with the solutions of inequality and how we could possibly fix it. Michael Marmot, in his article, “The Influence Of Income On Health: Views Of An Epidemiologist,” talks about the same issue as Krugman, income inequality, but focuses on how income affects health and explains the different perspectives on whether or not money matters when

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different

Rowlingson (2011) agrees with Wilkinson and Pickett that there is indeed a strong correlation between income and health and social problems. In her report she includes the ‘Marmot Review’ (Marmot, 2010) which shows evidence that people living in England in the poorest areas compared to those living in the richest will, on average, die 7 years earlier. This suggests a clear link between class and health. The report further notes other additional factors, such as infant mortality, and mental and physical well being go hand in hand with inequality.

Society holds many structures that mould human performance and produce opportunities for some, but inequalities for others (Morrall, 2009). These structures in society are organized by the hierarchies of class, ethnicity and gender (Crossman, 2016). Due to having a society based on hierarchies, social inequalities are inevitable. Social inequality refers to the ways in which a group or individual of a certain social position may receive unequal opportunities or distribution of ‘goods’ such as education, income, living conditions and healthcare (Walker, 2009). These unequal opportunities may be given to someone because of their ethnicity, gender, income, religion or social class (Walker, 2009). For example, people in a high social class will be able to pay for their children to go to a good private school for a good education, whereas lower-class or working class people will struggle to afford the same education.