Inequalities in Health Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is absolute poverty?
Someone is poor when he/she doesn’t have the necessary resources to sustain life
What is relative poverty?
Someone is poor in relation to other people, below 60% of the median income.
What is social stratification?
A structured system which categorizes groups of people into a hierarchy on the basis of wealth, status or power.
Ex- socio-economic classification
What is the meaning behind “The 21st century social class” ?
The Great British Social class calculator - researchers from 6 universities in UK and BBC carried out an online survey about social classes in society
Ex - Elite, Established middle class, Precariat
What are the 3 ways Marmot suggested socio-economic position could be linked to health?
Money
Status
Power
What are some epidemiological monitoring of social inequalities in health?
Life expectancy
Life expectancy at birth
Mortality rates
Distribution of long-term conditions across social classes
Persisting inequality, life expectancy by deprivation area
Health profile for (country)
What does social class affect?
Mortality and Morbidity
What is the evidence to prove that people occupy different social positions in society?
Social classes
What does social selection focus on ?
Biological reasons - individuals are biologically more vulnerable to fall sick therefore are not able to move up the social strata.
Health determines social class. If people fall ill, they are unable to secure employment, which leads to downward social mobility to occur.
What are some limits of the social selection model?
Not sufficient to account for the whole of differences in health by social class
Social mobility tends to occur before serious diseases become prevalent.
Incapacity does not always lead to downward mobility.
What is the materialistic model?
This model argues that access to materials and control of material resources influences peoples’ health.
Material possessions
Access to resources : education, healthcare services, proper housing
How does poverty and unemployment result in bad health?
Exposes people to greater health hazards ex- poor housing, air pollution, unhealthy food which are associated with chronic stress and a loss of control
What is the “inverse care law” concept by Tudor Hart?
Healthcare is least avaliable where it is most needed
What are some reasons for variation in access to healthcare?
Availability, Quality, Costs, Information
What is the behavioral model?
Focuses on individuals and how they behave : health-damaging or health-promoting behaviors :
Smoking
Alcohol abuse
Unhealthy diet
Physical Exercise
Cultural explanations - middle and working class people have different cultures
What are some implications of Cultural explanations?
Health inequalities may not be reduced by economic equality
Is it morally right to try and change people’s values/integral components of their groups lifestyle and culture?
What is the psychosocial model?
How psychological stress is generated by society’s inequality structures
What are the 2 pathways from stress to poor health?
Direct effect : on disease development
Indirect pathway : when stress is expressed by health-damaging behaviour
What is the life course model?
It has to do with ones’ experiences with social conditions and social positioning across time.
Ex - disadvantage in childhood is associated with disadvantage in adulthood
Ex - risk factors accumulate and interact synergistically over the life course in complex ways
What is the meaning of inequality?
Refers to unbalanced conditions
What is the meaning of inequity?
Refers to the state of being unfair/unjust
