Structural Violence And Its Effects On Society

Racism imposes additional health issues on people of color because it is an unnecessary stressor in their every day lives. “African Americans die earlier and have higher rates than whites of many chronic diseases across the social gradient” (Unnatural Causes, 2008). Increased cortisol levels, which are caused by stress have been linked to high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and other health problems.

One’s environment does have an impact on one’s health, therefore race does impact one’s health environmentally not genetically.

The organizational structures of political and economic systems cause and sustain the sort of hierarchical relations that enable dramatic differences between and across sectors of societies. Within these hierarchies, the people at the top have privilege, wealth, and power, while those at the bottom of the hierarchy are dominated, oppressed, and exploited (Christie, 1997). People are harmed and killed as a result of structural violence but, unlike direct violence, it occurs more slowly. The harm or death of oppressed people may come about because “some people are deprived of food, shelter, healthcare, and other resources” (Christie, 1997). Because structural violence is embedded in a society’s way of being, over the long-term, groups of people may not be able to meet their basic needs to the degree that normal development and growth is impacted.

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.

Although there are a few “race related” diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, the illnesses that are killing the minority population are environment related, like Coronary Heart Disease. In a study done by Alan Goodman, he cites four important points about race and genetics:

When the scientific community begins to spread unfounded hypotheses regarding genetic differences between races, particularly differences that attribute poorer health or increased susceptibility to disease among minority groups, a Pandora’s Box is opened of potential dangers which can aid proponents of racist doctrines. Historically, scientific studies that sought to prove biological differences among races have led to violently racist movements like slavery, colonialism, and the Holocaust. Hence, as other pharmaceutical companies follow NitroMed’s path and begin marketing drugs targeted for specific racial groups, the dangers of such race-based therapeutics must be acknowledged.

There has been a lot of test run by scientists as they believe Race and Ethnicity affect health. The scientist shows that certain races of people contain a gene which can lead to a disease. This includes cystic fibrosis and other diseases. Researchers believe

Race has influences on the health of the African American person. The genes that determines race is linked with the genes that decides the health of a person. The health of a society is determined by physiological, chemical, physical, genetic or neurological

Although it is intuitive to hypothesize that disparities in health arise because of socioeconomic differences between racial groups, studies often find that racial disparities persist even after accounting socioeconomic factors. Ethnicity is highly correlated with residential location, with minorities and whites often living segregated from one another. Differential residential location comes with differential exposure to health risks.

2. Structural violence are systematic ways in which social structures harm people by excluding the disadvantage individuals. In our nation we value some people more than the other if they are whites, rich, and if they have some sort of power such as political power and those people’s social status allows them to access better education, better healthcare, better jobs, better housing, better neighborhood. The rest of the people who are not privileged are valued less and therefore our society disallow them to access services the privileged folks have and that is called structural violence. “Structural violence is not natural or accidental, rather it is connected to our policies” (Lecture). Our policies allow minority, poor, and people of color to be oppressed. Structural violence is everywhere in the U.S. One example to that could be schools. My son was bullied and beaten when he was in the second grade and I

The first issue that I learned after watching the health disparities video is despite similar levels of education and economic standing that African American women have the higher rates of infant mortality than Caucasian females with less education and a lower economic standing. The video theorized that this anomaly was most likely due to with experiences associated with racism. The video asserted that racism was a constant stressor and that neuroendocrine and sympathetic nervous system changes caused by stress could result in the gradual breakdown of the body and its systems.

Race has been a topic used as a means of division and categorization for years. Scientists and people in general have used race to separate racial groups and to determine which race is “superior” or “inferior”. However, as we progress in society, studying the differences between races serves to understand and help one another, rather than to degrade. Studying the different genetic makeups between races serves as a helpful tool to educate individuals on health risks they may be more susceptible to because of their racial background.

Health disparities is the major differences in the health status involving different groups of people according to their age, race, cultural. Some groups of people have higher rates of certain diseases, more deaths and suffering compared to others. Health disparities are also the differences that arise in the delivery of healthcare and access to healthcare across different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. In spite of trying to have stable change and enhancement in the health of the United States ' population, the health of America 's racial and ethnic minorities differs from the mainstream. For example, African Americans health status of ethnic group encounters high burden of disparities due to deep and persistent history based on

In America most cases of Domestic Violence are never actually reported, many times these cases go unheard and the victims suffer in silence. The worn out cries of a battered woman as she lays on the ground clutching herself and begging her significant other to just stop. The bruises and cuts that remain unreported due to the victim claiming they accidentally fell yet again. The abusers tend to make the victim almost entirely dependable on them. An abuser will do this to gain control and to create a weaker victim, “behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other” (Par. 1, Definition). Control. The abuser seeks control over their victims. When their control is threatened they act out in ways harmful to others. Domestic