“Wealth equals health.” A statement from Tony Iton in the Unnatural Casual Series “In Sickness and in Wealth.” In my opinion, this proclamation can describe much of America. I disagree with the argument that education is the most important influence on health. Several factors intertwine together to determine someone’s health, but a person’s social status and the social structure of our society are the most important. Social status and the social structure we live in are the most important factors in determining someone’s health because of the location they live in, the amount of stress they have in their lives, and sadly the color of their skin and what ethnicity they belong to. A major way that socioeconomic status can impact health is the …show more content…
Violence can be very common in low-income neighborhoods, as the National Crime Victimization Survey of 2014 found that individuals of low-income households had more than double the rate of being the victim of a violent crime compared to those of high-income households. [Truman & Langton, 2015] This can create a long-term pattern of chronic stress. Our body’s stress response is designed to handle stress at a short-term level, so living with this amount of stress daily can increase the chances of developing a disease. People of a low SES are also likely to stress about the possibility of a poverty trigger, which could send them deeper into poverty. Another big influence of stress can come from the color of skin someone has and the racial discrimination that comes with …show more content…
Racial discrimination can lead to depression as well as added stress to people’s lives, which you know can lead to higher chances of diseases. Unequal social conditions, such as nutrition and medical care can play a big role in the health of people of color. As the textbook states, white patients are more likely than their counterparts to receive knee placement or coronary bypass surgery, as well as a better chance to obtain a cardiac catheterization. These two examples of unintentional discrimination can immensely diminish the health of minority groups in the long run. [Henslin, 2016] Due to the structure of our society, racial discrimination can be a key determinant of someone’s SES, which as you now know plays a big factor in determining someone’s health. According to U.S. Poverty Statistics, African Americans and Hispanics have twice the poverty rate of non-Hispanic whites. [U.S. Poverty Statistics, 2016] While this stat is very shocking, I feel that is more important to dive into why our society is this
I chose not to use any of the prompts provided, but instead connect the article to what I learned in my sociology class lass quarter. In class we watched part one of film series of Unnatural causes, titled Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick "In Sickness and in Wealth". While reading the article this reminded me about the cases studied in the film to see whether wealth inequality contributes to making people sick. In the film they focused on the social determinants of health, wealth and education. In both the article and part one of the film Unnatural Causes they focused on three different individuals and how their health are affected by they choices they make and the access they have to care.
Large disparities exist between minorities and the rest of Americans in major areas of health. Even though the overall health of the nation is improving, minorities suffer from certain diseases up to five times more than the rest of the nation. President Clinton has committed the nation to eliminating the disparities in six areas of health by the Year 2010, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be jumping in on this huge battle. The six areas are: Infant Mortality, Cancer Screening and Management, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, HIV Infection and AIDS, and Child and Adult Immunizations.
Cohn, Jay N., The Use of Race and Ethnicity in Medicine: Lessons from the African-American Heart Failure Trial, J.L. Med. & Ethics, Race and Ethnicity, Fall 2006, p 552-554.
Though social problems affect a wide variety of people from all races, classes, and cultures; minorities, specifically African Americans, encounter social problems on a multi-dimensional basis. Poverty, employment rates, discrimination, and other social problems strike African Americans in such a way that it is nearly impossible to separate them; each individual has different background, socially and physically, that would determine in which order his or her social problems need to be solved. Impoverished blacks in the inner city may have difficulty finding or keeping jobs, while others may have jobs, but face troubles with work discrimination that prevent them from moving upward .Underemployment, workplace inequalities, and unbalanced medical attention are three closely related social problems that, if ameliorated together, could increase upward mobility, decrease poverty levels, and tighten the lifespan gaps for not only blacks, but also other minority groups. The purpose of this paper is to show what effects these three problems have for blacks.
The video “In Sickness and In Wealth” is about how healthy your body is connected to your means of health. In this video it views the life of four individuals with different lifestyles and different levels of income. In this video it displays the life of a CEO, lab supervisor, janitor and unemployed mother, all from Louisville, Kentucky. It explained how their social class affect their standard of living as well as their health. In this video demonstrate how social class shapes access to control, resources and opportunity, resulting in a health-wealth incline.
If we were to apply a longitude exposure study over the span of 42 years from the time an inner-city child is born, we may conclude that life experiences resulting from potential malnutrition, underprivileged environments, and overall lack of health education are the leading contributors to adult African American deaths. Studies show that 8 of the 10 leading causes in the deaths of African Americans are medical disease, which with proper education and care may have been prevented and/or addressed earlier in their life to diagnose and treat. The fact is Heart Disease is the leading cause of deaths for African Americans. When compared to other ethnicities, some form of heart disease causes 24.5% of African American deaths. These numbers are astounding considering Blacks make up approximately only 14.2% of the total U.S. population. The contributing factor is lack of knowledge and family medical screening. Understanding the history of your genial line specific to your race and ...
Studies have analyzed how African Americans deal with an enormous amount of disease, injury, death, and disability compared to other ethnic group, and whites, Utilization of health services by African Americans is less frequent than other ethnic groups in the country. This non utilization of services contributes to health disparities amongst African Americans in the United States. Current and past studies have shown that because of discrimination, medical mistrust, racial/ethnic background, and poor communication African Americans tend to not seek medical care unless they are in dire need or forced to seek professional care. African Americans would rather self –medicate than to trust a doctor who might show some type of discriminatory
According to the institute of Medicine (IOM), racism is a problem in the health care system, that is, the difference between the quality of health care received by minorities and non-minorities is due to racism. IOM is a nonprofit organization that advises the federal government and the public on science policy. It released a report that on average, minorities receive a lower quality of care, even when factors such as income and type of health insurance are accounted for. The report by IOM states that racial stereotypes and prejudice are the cause of the health care disparities. The article by IOM points ...
The disparities in the healthcare system contribute to the overall health status disparities that affect ethnic and racial minorities. The sources of ethnic and racial healthcare disparities include cultural barriers, geography differences, or healthcare provider stereotyping. In addition, difficulties in communication between health care providers and patients, lack of access to healthcare providers, and lack of access to adequate health care coverage
Wilkinson, R. G., & Marmot, M. G. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts.
Williams, D. R., & Jackson, P. (2014, April 1). Health Affairs. Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/325.short
People of color face inequality and intersectionality in healthcare whether through insurance coverage, access, social economics, and quality of care. This leads to our health care system having disparities. It remains a big challenge today as 41% of people living in the United States are people of color (kff.org). People of color aren't getting the same care as someone who's white. Racial and ethnic minorities received lower care. Race also plays a role if someone will be uninsured or not. Another problem with health care is social economics which causes some race to have better care than others. There have been little improvements to address these issues. Today our society is becoming more diverse not less. In 2015 minorities represented
Nordqvist, Christian stated some facts about health, “ health can be defined as a physical, mental, and social well being, and a resource for living a full life. It refers not only to the absence of disease, but the ability to recover and bounce back from illness. Factors for good health include genetics, the environment, relationship, and education.”(page2). Health can be defined in many factors, but they all relate to a person's status and where their class in the economy. If one is wealthy, he or she can have access to healthcare that provides treatment to any of their health issues. But for the people who have low income, they can not afford health insurance and have a higher risk of becoming ill because they don’t have the resources to live a full healthy life. Most of those individuals have mental health issues because they often stress about living and surviving everyday with so little income. Christian Nordiqvist also said, “According to the WHO, the higher a person's socioeconomic status (SES), the more likely they are to enjoy good health, a good education, a well-paid job, afford good healthcare when their health is threatened” (pg.2). Christian is correct because the wealthier a person is, the higher chance of being in good health because he or she has the privilege of good health
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
In the past, research has shown that the black-American community’s exposure to social inequality and discrimination has had a negative impact on their mental health. To summarize this general theory, Dr. Kwame McKenzie states, “In the USA, interpersonal discrimination has been associated with increased rates of hypertension, depression and stress” (Chakraborty). Despite the several social and technological advances that the United States has made over the past few decades, we have not necessarily freed ourselves from the constraints of racism. In a 2009 study evaluating the rates of perceived discrimination among blacks, 60.9% claimed to have experienced day-to-day racism (Keyes). Past studies have used these statistics to prove that this perceived discrimination is a stressor that can cause a variety of mental illnesses, ranging from anxiety, to depression, to phobia. However, a recent paradigm shift has occurred, changing the way researchers are looking at black-American psychology.