Social Inequalities in Health Care Essay

From this film, the key points that were mentioned about how socioeconomic backgrounds and race impact one’s health is something that is not as emphasized as it should be in the public eye. Especially how health and wealth are intertwined with each other is particularly frustrating since health should be a human right and people should receive the health they need regardless of their economic

According to Riegelman and Kirkwood (2015) there are many social determinants that influence our health. These may include, but are not limited to; income, educational level, culture, and professional status. All of these things can contribute to our health, because they are the things we are surrounded with: a way of life. Most of these determinants are structurally unequal. This means that a person doesn’t have a choice, but to be part of that determinant. We do not have the choice of being born into a rich or poor family, what culture we are raised in, and so on. These inequalities lead to heath disparities. Health disparities are the differences between groups’ health that are/ can be caused by structural inequalities (Disparities 2017). For example, Henrietta Lacks came from a poor family and her health was negatively affected by the social determinants that come along with that lifestyle. On the other hand, we could look at a rich family during that time and their health could have been positively affected. We will look at how different social determinants caused Henrietta Lacks to experience both structural inequalities and heath disparities.

“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,

Potter and Perry (2017) states, “Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health.” Health disparity is experienced by social disadvantaged populations. These vulnerable populations can include race or ethnicity, gender, education, income, disability, and geographic location (Potter & Perry, 2017, p. 33). The Banes family

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or in opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other population groups, and communities” (CDC, 2017).  It  is easy to believe that control on overall health relies solely on making  a firm decision (the “right” decision" to lead a healthy lifestyle— by being active and eating a balanced-diet. There are other factors to be considered in evaluating and understanding health disparities: why people seem to be noncompliant? Or why people aren’t seeking medical attention in a timely manner?  In reading

In the “Marmot Review: Fair Society Healthy Lives” written by “Professor Michael Marmot” himself, he proposes the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England. Inequality is unjust and unfair and therefore it is a matter of social justice in cases where everyone has an equal,social, political and economical rights and opportunities.He simply stated that to reduce the steepness of the gradient sufficiently “actions must be universal, but with a scale and intensity that is proportionate to the level of disadvantage” Even though resources may be scarce and it is tempting to focus these limited resources on the most needy, we are eliminating some parts of the society and therefore only tackling a small part of the overall problem. Part of his solution was to “implement an evidence-based programme of ill health preventive interventions that are effective across the social gradient such as Increasing and improving the scale and quality of treatment programmes and focusing on public health interventions such as smoking cessation programmes on reducing the social gradient” Michael Marmot also raises the benefits to which reducing health inequalities will help the economy as well as socially. “It is estimated that inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31-33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20-32 billion per

These are a few potential links between social inequalities and the health of the population: income and wealth distribution, unemployment, the ageing society, gender and health, mental illness and suicide and disability and dysfunction. I am going to discuss each of these and see the health impact on people in each group.

In this assignment I hope to effectively discuss and evaluate the patterns and trends associated with health and illness within the higher and lower social classes. I am going to do this by discussing and evaluating the following explanations and perspectives within sociology; Artefact explanation, Natural or Social Selection explanation, Cultural or Behavioural explanation and Materialist or Structuralist explanation.

Explain patterned inequalities in health and illness. Evaluate sources of evidence with regards to class, gender, ethnicity and age

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

classes are perhaps not as clear as they used to be. But it is just as

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.

This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).

The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.

Life chances in terms of health for the lower social class mean that they are more likely to get ill. This happens as they cannot manage to pay for the suitable clothing, heating in the cold weather, living in overcrowded conditions and poor diet. In terms of education attainment children who are born in the family that is classified as higher class achieve better results in school compared to those in lower social class. Furthermore, the children that belong to the parents of higher class are more likely to get better education (through private schools/institutions), this increases their chances of employment with high income (Haralambos & Holborn, 2000).