Wealth Health Gradient In The Film Unnatural Causes

In the movie Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth, it compared the lives of four individuals, Taylor, Young, Anderson, and Turner, in different locations, race, and socioeconomic background. The scale of difference between this group of people is that it goes from financially stable and healthy individuals to individuals with lower income and poorer health. This wealth-health gradient reflects that those who have easier access to healthier lifestyles (i.e. running outside without the concern of safety) are more likely to have a higher life expectancy than those who are in living environments that are not as developed and lack healthier options of nutrition. The difference of the average life expectancy scaled down from Jim Taylor whose neighborhood had an average life expectancy of 80 years, Young’s 75.3 years,

In “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person” by Gina Crosley-Corcoran. We learn about the authors struggle growing up poor. Crosley says that she was so poor growing up, it’s “the type of poor that people don’t want to believe still exists in the country.” Crosley grew up in northern-Illinois and she was truly impoverished growing up. At 12, Crosley was making cup noodles in a coffee maker with water she fetched from public bathrooms. She lived in a camper that had no running water or heat.

One of the first things that led to a crashing course of events was the people financial tragedies. According to one person who had lived through that time, “We weren’t hungry but we were penniless” (Hastings). The use of the word “penniless” really represented how people had zero money. This was not the type of poverty where society was not able to afford self wants. This was the type of poverty that people could barely afford their own needs and necessities. It’s very important how stressed this topic must be. Another quote says “With no dependable income we cut back on everything possible.” (Hastings). That

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, poverty and its effect on people can be seen through the wealthy and poor characters, specifically Janie’s husbands. Her wealthy husbands treat people like they are objects, and her poor husband treats her like she’s a human. The question I would like to pose is this: Will the wealthy always have an advantage over the poor? Or will the poor ever take charge over the wealthy? How are today’s circumstances changing how we see the

The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader of a real problem, media misrepresentation, and to try to have the reader change the way the think, feel, and perceive the poor. She gives examples of encounters she has had that are a result of the damaging depiction and conveys to the reader why those thoughts are wrong by using her own personal experiences. She mentions that before entering college she never thought about social class. However, the comments from both other students and her professors about poverty were alarming to her. Other people viewed the poor as, “shiftless, mindless, lazy, dishonest, and unworthy” indigents. Hook opposes that stereotypical image of the poor, referring back to being taught in a “culture of poverty,” the values to be intelligent, honest, and hard-working. She uses these personal experiences to her advantage by showing she has had an inside look at poverty.

Often throughout the book she mentions that it is said that "you're paid what you're worth", saying that little pay results in you not being to good of a person. With that label they were looked down on and viewed kind of as untouchables. They had low pay, long hours, no overtime pay, and no benefits which leads to low socio-economic-status a job that no one wants to pursue. She stressed that poverty wasn’t a sustainable condition, it's a state of emergency. Citizens in the lower classes are left to fend for themselves and the ten, eight, or six dollar jobs are all that's there for them. What she would encourage them to do is to demand to be paid what they're worth because in the end they will be better off.

To many people poverty is simply a socio-economic issue. To Jeannette Walls, poverty is her entire life. In this passage of The Glass Castle, Jeannette and her siblings are forced to face a situation they seem to have encountered before; hunger. Due to her dad’s newfound unemployment, Jeannette and her family are forced to limit the amount of food they eat and when Jeannette brings up this idea of eating less to help limit costs, Lori simply replies “We have before”, which helps to infer that this isn’t a new issue for them. This is one issue of many that have affected the Walls family due to the environment the parents have made. In the Glass Castle, we see Jeanette’s parents create an environment for Jeanette and her siblings where for a

Poverty is something that we cannot ignore. Shelby Adams once said that we must look into the dark so that we may improve. It is important to let the world know the other side of the story specifically how impoverished people live. This is precisely what both Marc Singer and Jennifer Bachwal do in The True Meaning of Pictures and Dark Days. Both of these films are very different but similar at the same time.

Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick, clearly explored the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, it was said that college graduates live 2.5 years longer than high school graduates” (California Newsreel, 2008). This documentary illustrated how one’s level of education not only impacts their quality of life, but also impacts the duration of one’s life.

First, there is Jim Taylor, Hospital CEO, District 16; second, Tondra Young, Clinical Lab Supervisor, District 24; lastly, Corey Anderson, Floor Technician, District 21. The population of each district decreases in average income, education level and life expectancy than its preceding district, beginning with district 16, Jim Taylor’s district. District 16 has an average combined household income of approximately $120,000/ annually. In this district, 65% of the population has a college degree and the life expectancy in this district is 82 years. Whereas, Tondra Young’s district, district 24, has an average combined household income of $70,000/annually and 15% of the population has a college degree. The life expectancy of district 24 is 75 years, that’s 7 years less than district 16. In district 21, Corey Anderson’s district, the average combined household income is less than $50,000/ annually and only 5% of the districts population have college degrees. Consequently, the life expectancy of district 21 is 70 years, 5 years less than district 24 and 12 years less than district 16 (Adelman 2008). The results of this study are indisputable: there is an obvious correlation between social/economic status and health status. As each districts average income and education level decrease, average life expectancy coincides. This leads to the next question: why does social and economic status so greatly influence health status?

The video Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Health highlights the various disparities that impact population health outcomes among different groups. The frequency of violence and crime is one such feature that impacts health. Areas affected with an increased prevalence of violence and crime, will likely have residents that feel unsafe outside their homes. If patrons are not safe in their homes or neighborhoods, they are less likely to active within their community. This particularly affects children. If they are unable to play outside safely, there are more likely to live sedentary lives as they grow into adulthood. This impacts population health because a sedentary lifestyle increases the risk for developing certain cancers and other poor

Nelson Mandela once said, “Poverty is not natural it 's man-made.” This quote states that a person can overcome poverty if one has the desire to live a better life. In a novel called Poor People written by William T. Vollmann, the author travels around different countries and places to learn about poor people and to get a global perspective view. While interviewing different kinds of people, Vollmann would ask them one question: why are you poor? Looking at people 's answers Vollmann noticed that some of the people gave quite interesting answers. Vollmann went through a lot of situations where he just couldn 't imagine what life would be if he was ever to live like that. Another novel that has a similar poverty situation is called Let The Water Hold Me Down, written by Michael Spurgeon. Hank, the main character of the novel, experiences a tragic moment in his life. Losing his wife and daughter while drowning, this tragedy left him feeling like it’s all due to his miscarrying about them. His life becomes full of sorrow, and the only way out it was to go to Mexico to his friend’s place and restart his life over. In a new country of Mexico, this story takes place. Even though he had money, a house, and friends’ support, he still experienced lots of pressure trying to survive in Mexico. Poverty has different meanings in everyone 's lives but by reading these two novels, there are three similarities that can be made about people living in poverty.

his family in the beginning, however as the story progresses the family breaks loose of

In our sociology class, Social Problems, we learned about poverty. Poverty is described as lacking the economic resources to live at an adequate standard of living. Lourdes grew up in an impoverished family. They struggled to find food and clothing. She didn’t want her children to grow up the same way so she left them to earn money for them. Unfortunately, her children still struggled with poverty, especially her son Enrique. He was forced to work at a very young age and was only economically secure for a short time with his

Elizabeth is a young girl with ambitious aspirations. It has always been her dream to be a doctor and help people. However, Elizabeth lives in an impoverished area outside the city. Elizabeth’s family has recently lost their home and is now living in the harrowing cold streets. Her family deals with the constant thought of how to survive in a place where as time progresses the rich get richer while the poor suffer. Currently, millions of people are living in poverty while the government hides and ignores the reality. Poverty has been part of human history. Literature often allows experts to note that poverty has been around for quite a long time. For example, In the 19th century, William Graham Sumner, an advocate of social Darwinism, explains