Durkheim's Views On Inequality

Health disparities according to Medline Plus refers to the differences in the health status of different groups of people. (MedlinePlus, 2017) These differences are mainly the rates of which diseases and deaths the most common among that certain group compared to others. Groups can be based on a person’s race, ethnicity, immigrant status, disability, gender, income, and geography. Health disparities are unjust and related to the unequal distribution of social, political, economic, and environmental resources available to people. (CDC, 2015) Health disparities are common among discriminations in education. It has been said that individuals with lower education levels tend to be at a higher risk for

To exemplify this fact, imagine a time before preventative health screenings were available; SES could not be tied to access to care, because these did not exist. For conditions where medical advances have been made that now provide treatment and prevention, overall mortality decreased while SES and race gradients shifted toward greater mortality for less fortunate groups (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar, 2010). The Fundamental Cause Theory’s basic principle described by Phelan (2010) states, “a superior collection of flexible resources held by higher SES individuals and the collectivities to which they belong allow those of higher SES to avoid disease and death in widely divergent circumstances”. This theory argues that those with more resources, whether it is money, knowledge, power, etc., have better access to healthcare, and will die less often from preventable disease. Lower SES individuals experience several ways in which their social class impacts their health: less access to healthcare, poor behavior and lifestyle habits, and exposure to harmful environmental toxins. Environmental and lifestyle disparities experienced by lower SES individuals account for up to 80% of premature deaths (Shavers, 2007). Furthermore, three studies determined “that the SES-mortality association was stronger for preventable causes of death” (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar, 2010). Due to unequal resource distribution, the lowest social class is becoming more ill, and dying sooner than their high class counterparts. If resources were more available or redistributed to reduce the inequality, inequalities in healthcare would also decrease (Phelan, Link, & Tehranifar,

(Healthy People 2020, n.d). As humans, we constantly interact with our surroundings, thus where we live, learn, work and play greatly influences our health outcome, therefore efforts aimed at improving this issue of disparity requires an understanding of the complex conditions in the social system that contribute to the illness in the first place. I chose this topic because as a Public Health student with a concentration of Health Promotion and Education I constantly think about the ways the social determinants of health and health disparities at large contribute to the wide variety of illnesses and diseases and the economic burden caused by these inequalities. In this essay, I hope to explore how the social determinates of health influences an individual’s health outcome, their ability to access healthcare services and the efforts/ interventions that aim at reducing these disparities among minorities. Hence, members of minority racial/ethnic groups suffer a proportionally higher burden of disease and death due to the conditions in which they live

According to Conley, Poverty can be defined as “a condition of deprivation due to economic circumstances” that is severe enough that the person in this condition cannot live with dignity in his or her society. The culture of poverty theory argues that poor people adopt certain practices, which differ from those of middle-class, “mainstream” society, in order to become accustomed and survive in difficult economic situations. Therefore, I strongly agree with the statement “A person’s health varies depending on the social and ethnic groups to which he or she belongs” because if you are living under a low class social status or being part of a racial minority, it will definitely have impacts or influence a person’s health and longevity. In case

One contrast between Marx and Durkheim is how they think society coerces individuals to conform to its expectations. Marx believes that value and coercion is created through labor-time. For example, on the commodification of workers, he writes, “These laborers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market” (Marx, in Calhoun, p. 101). Marx presents workers as victims of capitalism who are coerced to accept their wages due to the competitive nature of a capitalist society. Individuals, as workers, are thus coerced to accept the quantifiable, expected wages for their labor, and thus conform to

Being a racial minority or being of lower social status directly influences your health and longevity. For example, in the United States life expectancy at birth for whites is 79 years compared to for African-Americans who have a life expectancy of 75.3 years (Conley, 423). Being a racial minority can decrease your life expectancy and your health purely based off from the stress. Minorities face racism every day in today's society and whether it be blatant or subliminal can still cause a lot of stress. This stress comes in school, workplace, and extracurricular activities especially in areas where they are a strong minority. Generally speaking people of lower socioeconomic status have worse health than that of their wealthier counterparts.

Health is a basic human need and is a ubiquitous human aspiration. Unfortunately health is not equal and there are considerable differences in long term health outcomes between people from differing socioeconomic backgrounds. Health is not only the result of biological or genetic processes; it is also influenced by the economic and social conditions in which people live in. These influences are termed as the social determinants of health and they can influence health either positively or negatively (Siegrist and Marmot, 2006). Social determinants of health are not fixed and include things such as types of housing and environment people live in, the accessibility of education and health services, income level and employment type. These factors can all influence a person’s lifestyle decisions and health. Inequalities produced through social conditions bring about unequal and unjustified health outcomes for different social backgrounds. Health inequalities tend to be measured along a social gradient. Research has shown time and time again that there is a social gradient in health, which runs from the top to the bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum (Moss, 1995).

The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, work, their age, live, raised, and the systems put in place to handle illness. These environments are in turn molded by a broader set of forces: politics, social policies and economic. A simple belief of public health is that everyone is obligated to health and the conditions that allow for health. However, health is not alike or fairly distributed. In other words, there are both health inequalities and health inequities. Health disparities refer to changes in health status by group. For example, blacks are less healthy than whites and generally have lower socioeconomic status (SES) than whites (Schneider, 2014). These differences are connected to gender and

A social factor is something that impacts a lifestyle, such as family, wealth, or religion. Health is a vital factor in one 's life. Health is important because it is the condition of being free from illness or injury. According to Understanding Social Problems, " health problems are linked to lifestyle behaviors such as excessive alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking, unprotected sexual intercourse, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet" (Mooney, 40). Health has many social factors, but there are three main ones that are really important. The first factor is Socioeconomic status. The second factor is Gender and Health. The last factor is Race, Ethnicity, and Health.

Social class describes a position which is based on the unequal distribution of power, wealth, income and status. Although, there is no definite way to measure class, class-based inequalities have become increasingly obvious in relation to health in Canada (Germov and Hornosty, 2012). This relationship between health and social class also reflects how the government targets health promotion at individuals rather than the whole population.

In America, most of the population are getting sick easily and dying at young ages. Why is that? People think it is due to bad health habits such as eating unhealthy, smoking, not exercising, etc. However, there is so much more to that. America, one of the wealthiest industrialized nations in the world, is in the midst of a public health crisis marked by rising levels of chronic illness and premature death. This is due to inequality on the basis of class, race, and gender as well as stress being unequally distributed in the social hierarchy. The film Unnatural Causes (2008), "Can Upward Mobility Cost You Your Health?" (Miller 2014), "Health and Wealth" (Jacobs and Morone 2004), and “Closing the Wealth Gap” (Kuebler 2013) are four sources that

Being a racial minority or of lower social status, health and longevity could be effected because they may not have the money or insurance necessary to cover medical expenses. People in lower social status situations typically are low income families and do not have insurance. Without medical insurance, these people are unable to maintain healthy lifestyles. They do not receive preventative care which can negatively impact their longevity. People in lower income families also can not afford to eat properly. They are more apt to eat meals that are cheaper and do not provide vitamins and minerals necessary to maintain healthy bodies. People who are poorer and have less education may be more likely to suffer from disease, be cognitively and physically

In the book The Division of Labor in Society by Durkheim, readers can understand Durkheim’s perspectives on division of labor contrast to Marx’s. In the above passage, the social inequality is the inequality which are embedded in the society as a form of discrimination that is spread and sustained through social institutions. The social inequalities can be extended as justifying why specific individuals are lower social standing or ranks over others. This can effectively determine people’s occupation and social positions. A passage “it is a necessary and sufficient condition for these inequalities neither to be emphasized nor played down through some external cause” describes the external causes as being the societally advantages or disadvantages

if a person social class or race affects their health and well being that would mean people lower class or lower ethnic group would suffer from shorter life expectancies, more health issues, and more issues in any health care system their apart of. for example in the cases of illegal immigrants in the united states heath care system there are many cases of these undocumented immigrants not reporting life threatening injuries in fare of being deported.

There is a deep relationship between socioeconomics and its challenges with the wellbeing of the people. “Socioeconomic status is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. Examinations of socioeconomic status often reveal inequities in access to resources, plus issues related to privilege, power and control.”(teacher power point). Socioeconomic has a relationship with the person’s wellbeing, which means the condition of an individual or group for their social, economic, psychological, spiritual or medical state(wiki). In those terms, a lot of researchers and psychologists studied and connected the socioeconomic status with the