Several studies support and show that ‘working class’ people from western societies have higher morbidity and mortality rates in contrast to people from other classes. According to Halleröd and Gustafsson (2011), the concept of ‘class’ is defined as “an individual’s position on the labour market… which determine their ability to consume goods and services such as health care”. In order from the highest class to the lowest, the common four classes within western societies include the upper class, middle class, working class and the lower class. According to Lantz et al. (2010), an individual’s socioeconomic class is described as “social and economic factors that influence the positions/roles individuals hold within the structure of society, and as measured by education, income, occupational status, and/or wealth”. Underlying factors that influence occupational status such as income and educational attainment make it possible to distinguish people between socioeconomic classes within contemporary western societies. According to Prus (2011), ‘working class’ people are described as individuals who depend on physical labour and are supported financially by an hourly wage. Their low income is a significant factor to determining their low health status and definitively, their high morbidity and morality rates. The lower overall health status of working class people assists in understanding the contrasts between other socioeconomic classes, as well as their associated health status, i.e., the working class typically have higher morbidity and morality rates in contrast to the upper and middle class. The main underlying determinants of the working class include educational attainment, occupational status, parents’ economic status, class of... ... middle of paper ... ...hool degree increased the probability of ‘good perceived health’ within the self-rated health scale by about 10%. Additionally, individuals with an undergraduate degree increased this probability to 12%. This highlights the idea that people of lower socioeconomic class such as the working class have reduced exposure to healthy lifestyle behaviours, which can therefore increase their morbidity and morality rates. Fiorillo and Sabatini (2011) demonstrated that education and health are related; they proposed that education does not directly affect morbidity as such, but it provides people with a valuable tool that can be translated into positive occupational careers. This establishes the idea that working class people are required to utilise education as a tool to increase their occupational status and income, which will decrease their mortality and morbidity risks.
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.
Ubiquitous throughout history and across cultures is the concept of rich versus poor. Almost all people fall on a spectrum moving from poverty to affluence. A person’s position on this spectrum is labeled by sociologists as their socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status, often abbreviated as SES, is measured by a person’s income, education, and career. Socioeconomic status is a pinnacle factor in a person’s life, affecting their lifestyle, relationships, and even, as with Dick and Perry, criminal potential. Low socioeconomic status has been shown to correlate with chronic stress, education inequality, and a variety of health problems including hypertension,
Wilkinson, R. G., & Marmot, M. G. (2003). Social determinants of health: The solid facts.
Gavin Turrell, B. F. (1999). Socioeconomic Determinants of Health:Towards a National Research Program and a Policy and Intervention Agenda. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are increasingly becoming a major problem of Public Health around the World. The impact of resources and material deprivation among people and populations has resulted in an increase in mortality rate on a planetary scale. Social determinants of health are defined as the personal, social, economic and the environmental conditions which determines the health status of an individual or population (Gardner, 2013). Today’s society is characterized by inequalities in health, education, income and many other factors which as a result is becoming a burden for Public Health around the world. Research studies have shown that the conditions in which people live and work strongly influenced their health. Individuals with high levels of education and fall within the high income bracket turn to have stable jobs, live in the best neighborhood and have access to quality health care system than individuals who have low education and fall with the low income bracket. This paper is to explain different social determinants of health and how they play ...
People in lower classes are more likely to get sicker more often and to die quicker. People in metro Louisville reveal 5- and 10-year gaps in life expectancy between the city’s rich, middle- and working-class neighborhoods. Those who live in the working class neighborhood face more stressors like unpaid bills, jobs that pay little to nothing, unsafe living conditions, and the fewest resources available to help them, all of these contribute to the health issues.
Health and inequality have always been two very controversial topics in society. Society tends to classify us into a class (or social class) based on an unequal distribution of power, wealth, income, and status (Germov 2015: p. 510). Your socioeconomic status”(SES) is also a major factor in the health inequalities we face in todays society. What does socioeconomic status (SES) even mean?
Furthermore, Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) argue that health and social problems are worse in more unequal societies. Because of inequality, poverty, social exclusion with the underclass and their welfare dependency, life expectancy is less, mental illness and drug use is high and educational success and social mobility is limited. Data about the United States’ society also finds a correlation between lower death rates and higher incomes, a core t...
Social determinants of health have attracted the attention of governments, policy makers and international health organisations over the last three decades (Hankivsky & Christoffersen 2008). This is because social conditions which people are born in, live and work play an important role in their health outcomes (WHO 2015). According to Kibesh (1200) social determinants drive health disparities, disrupts the human developmental process and undermine the quality of life and opportunities for people and families (ref). Thus, several theories have been developed over the years to provide in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and to reduce health inequalities (Hankivsky & Christoffersen, 2008). However, there is still significant
Education is a very important factor in a person’s life and there is different parts of education whether that may be primary, secondary or further education like college or university. These skills and knowledge that is taught develop us into the person we become later in life. Learning just doesn’t stop after school or further education, each individual develops and continues to learn through life for example jobs and new experiences. Therefore, education is an important social determinant of health which can affect not only individuals but families and communities too as well as having a large impact on our physical and mental
When one thinks of health, we think of our physical well-being, we think of the medicines we have to take to ensure our recovery in cases of illness, we think white-washed halls, doctors, nurses, candy stripers in their hospital clothes, we think vegetables and fruit juice, and the rest of that wellness-junk that the television infomercials make us buy, we think of sickness, we think of death, we think of life. We do not, or rarely, think of the underlying sociological implications of health and illness, through which we unknowingly dictate our actions, and through which our health manoeuvres through. Beyond the biological and natural conditions, through which our health is dictated, are the sociological factors affecting our wellbeing. It has been shown that the spread of diseases is heavily influenced by culture and tradition, and clearly, our socioeconomic statuses. Health therefore is much more than just an amalgamation of biological factors, but it extends to more socially-constructed sectors of our beings. And all these factors tend to procure inequalities.
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
...an, P., Egerter, S., & Williams, D. R. (2011). The social determinants of health: coming
Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.
In view of social-class affecting health, the principle is straightforward. As an individual goes up the social-class ladder, health improves. As an individual goes down the ladder, health worsens (Henslin, 2016, p. 276). That being the case, social class has many factors that affect health.