Health inequalities are prevalent in societies as there is no society in the world that strives on equilibrium. Sociological theories, taken from a functionalist, conflict and Interpretative point of view, state that inequalities exist throughout society. They just differ on how inequalities exist in society and the role they play in society.
Durkheim stated that health inequalities do exist in society, However these inequalities will weaken the solidarity of a society. In order for a society to perform, there must be unity and cohesion. People would create changes in society so as to eradicate the inequalities that exist in society in order for society to perform properly.
Marx, however, challenged that eventhough changes can be made , it would be to the beneficiary of the upper class than the lower class. In order words, the capitalist would benefit more than the working class. Those in the upper class would benefit more in obtaining health benefits. For example, they can visit hospitals that have better facilities and doctors. Some working class workers can’t even enjoy these benefits as their income may be too low for them to pay to enjoy the benefits. Some companies may not want to give their workers health welfare incentives as they are afraid that it may affect their profit margin.
Weber found inequalities to exist in the form of people’s prestige, power and income Those with different prestige, power and income form different status groups and lifestyles. These various form of social groups and lifestyle that they form were also a way for them to have more social mobility and a way climb the corporate ladder. They excluded other groups that did not have the same social status as them. People with different prestige, power and income varied in their ways of obtaining health benefits. Those in the upper class could reap most of the health benefits that their country has to offer, however the lower class could not obtain the same benefits as the upper class. It is towards the theories of Marx and Weber that I will show how health inequalities are constructed.
Health inequalities affect us as individuals and as a society. Individuals make up a society and society consist of individuals. It is difficult to separate both of them as they influence each other. Health inequalities caused by individuals are due to their personal choice , health behaviour, health beliefs, their socio – economic status and skeptism in the health system.
There have been changes in which the kind diseases that were prevalent in the early 19th century to the 20th century. From acute diseases like Measles to chronic diseases like heart disease , cancer and stroke. Individuals are now more responsible for their own health. There are enough literature to teach people how to look after themselves. The internet is flooded with medical advice, some are genuine and others not. Therefore, when people fall sick , they are sometimes blame for bringing the sickness onto themselves.
Some individuals choose a healthy living and some choose an unhealthy living. There are various factors that influence the health lifestyle of these individuals. The social factors are age, gender, race, ethnicity, the social environment, material wealth and access to health care.
People from different ages view life differently. The elderly prefer to eat food that are nutritious and are more careful with their food. They prefer to live healthily as they are old. However, the kind of food they obtain also depends whether they have the economic means to obtain them or whether the area that they are staying provide such kind of food . Some elderly people might be poor and can’t afford to obtain good value food. Some cannot due to lack of financial support from their government. Distance in obtaining good value food maybe a factor as they will not be able to obtain the food if they do not have any transport. The elderly are more prone to chronic illnesses, if the elderly from low income groups do not have financial assistance in order to obtain medical care, they might suffer from these illness for the rest of their life until death. For those in the upper class, they have a better life. They are able to access the health care system that their country provides and live a longer life than those that find it a difficulty to access the health care system. There are, however, elderly people whether they are in the upper or lower class strata, who prefer to eat unhealthy. They adopt a fatalistic point of view as since they are old, there is great uncertainty in their life.
Young adults may adopt a healthy or unhealthy lifestyle. Their choice depends on their income, prestige, power and environmental factors. Those with high income may indulge in healthy living. They are able to join health membership club, access the best medical care, enjoy good health ( less chance to suffer from chronic diseases that those on the lower income strata ), eat healthily and able to take part in more sports ( depending whether the sport is high risk or low risk as there are more chances in injuries occurring in the latter than the former ). Those in the lower income strata will most likely adopt an unhealthy living. They will indulge in smoking, drug use, violence , eat unhealthily and participate less in exercise. As their income is low, they might not be able to access proper medical care as the cost maybe too high, in the case of United States. They may be living in the areas that are violent prone, therefore they may get involve in fights and either get injured or killed. Death rates are higher in these areas. As they are poor, they may not be able to obtain nutritious food. They have a higher rate of lung cancer due to smoking.
It does not mean that only those in the lower class would smoke. The upper class young adults also smoke. Smoking can be considered as having a high status, especially smoking cigar. They may still suffer form lung cancer. There are reports that there is a high rate of people with high income suffering from lung cancer. However, They may create a social group that will have in common certain kind of eating habits, sports preferences, music preferences and literature preferences. This people can create what Bourdieu’s call it, social capital within their group. These groups can exclude those from the lower class in joining their circle, prevent them from improving their socio-economic status and also prevent them from accessing health care. For example, in US, as medical costs increases and new medical innovations are created only those with high income can buy medical insurance , use the medication innovations and access good health benefits. The lower class may not be able to purchase medical insurance and therefore may not be obtain medical care or may be forced to visit low cost medical doctors which may not have the necessary means to cure their illness.
Health inequalities also exist with gender, male or female. Women from the middle class eat much more health food, drink less, smoke less, indulge in less dangerous activities and visit the doctor more often. For example, women in Britain prefer to eat more nutritious food, those with more fibre and low cholesterol as compared to working class women who would eat food with high cholesterol level and vegetable. Women greater use of the heath care system could be due to their gender socialization. For example, they are permitted to cry, be more caring and show more weariness. Males on the other had are told not to cry and to be brave. They are trained to bear more hard ships. Therefore their use sage of the health care system. Depending on how severity of their illness, male or females do visit the doctor when they have to. However, there are other factors that prevent them from visiting the doctor. For example, the cost and benefit of seeing one, whether they have enough income to visit a doctor, transportation, whether their company provide them with heath welfare schemes and whether they will get paid if they are on sick leave.
Males tend to indulge in more risky activities than women. This is due to their upbringing. They tend to indulge in smoking , violence and tend to commit suicide ( due to work stress, social isolation and lack of social support ) more than women. Therefore their rates of death or being injured are higher than women. There is a saying that actually more women attempt suicide but men are more likely to succeed.
Depending on what kind of job a men is doing, he can suffer from different diseases. If he is indulging in manual or unskilled labour, like mining job, he may suffer from chemical poisoning from inhaling to much carbon. If their jobs are stressful, they drink more or smoke more and eat more “junk food”. These creates high rates of lung cancer and liver cancer in men. However, those who have high paid jobs also suffer from stress and because they earn a high income, they are able to smoke more and drink more. This creates a high rate of lung cancer or liver cancer in affluent societies. There is always the counter argument that people with high income can cope better with stress and are able to participate in activities to relax more, it is however untrue.
Men in high paid jobs also may suffer from back pain due to uncomfortable chairs and wrong sitting positions. Women can also suffer from the same thing. However as there are more women secretaries, they may suffer more from eye – problems and headaches due to long viewing hours of the video display unit .
Men also suffer from heart diseases and stress due to unemployment. As they are brought up to be the breadwinner of the household, they have a huge responsibility in looking after their families. Those with high education maybe able to find another job faster than those with lower education. Those who are out of job for a long time may resort to robbery, more so if he comes from a poor family.
Women are prone to mental illnesses. This is due to the social isolation they suffer from doing house work and the “ double shift” Double shift means that they are full time or part-time workers and after work return home to do house work. They are less prone to cardio vascular diseases because it seems the oestrogen protects them from it. Those in professional positions may have more flexible time and therefore are able to cope better. They suffer less stress. They have more time in visiting the doctor if they are sick. Part time workers are also able to visit the doctor as they have more time on their hands. Women are taken less seriously by doctors than men, Doctors prefer to treat men as their illness are more treatable. Women’s problems tend to be much more difficult as it is most likely a psychiatric problem. They are also more emotional so a doctor must be more tactful when diagnosing an illness for a women. Reproductive and women’s sexual health are sensitive matters at which women prefer female doctors to handle.
New environments can create stress for some people. The level of stress that people cope depends whether they are able to access medical care, various techniques of relaxing ( like indulging in sports activities ) and social support. Usually those with higher income and education are able to cope.
Social support is important in helping people cope with stress. If you have somebody to communicate with and give you love and moral support, you will suffer less stress. However this social support may be only catered to the upper class people and the lower class people may lose out. There may even be a fee charged to join social support organizations. However there are now few organizations, like churches, which create mission groups to go to the poorest parts of the world like Africa to help out in supplying food, clothing and other essential needs. Work places, schools and community centres should have social support groups that cater to all classes in order to make the people feel wanted and valued.
Different people with different race face different health inequalities. The largest health disparities in US are between the blacks and whites. Life expectancy at birth for white was 77.6 years, 71.9 for blacks health inequalities increases due to risk factors that blacks face, like smoking, diet and exercise. It is said that white men exercise more than blacks. One possible reason could be that whites have a higher income than the blacks and therefore are able to access to more exercise facilities like gymnasiums.
Mortality rates for Blacks are higher than whites in countries like UK as they live in poverish areas of the UK. They also smoke more, indulge in drug use and are involve in violent activities. Blacks also have lower health knowledge as they have lower education. For those that are poor, they may not have enough income to place their kids to school. Furthermore, schools may practice racial segregation and may differ in their curriculum between the whites and blacks. Blacks may not have less access to medical books, medical magazines and the internet for medical knowledge.
Black women end up with low paid jobs due to low education. Therefore they most likely are going have poor housing, low socio-economic status, poverty and ill-health. They may also suffer from culture shock if they have just migrated to another country. With lack of social support, they may not be able to cope with the stress they suffer from the culture shock.
The Health sector labels different people from different countries as having bringing in diseases like Rickets and Tuberculosis. This is true for Asians. Therefore in Britain, Asian patients are treated and scanned for these diseases even though they go and see a doctor because they are having a flu. White people do not get scanned for the disease even though they might have gone to an Asian country.
Some people from different cultures have different health beliefs. Doctors may not approve some of these health beliefs especially when it is according to faith and tradition. Health professionals need to be informed about minority cultures and to acknowledge that they may have special needs to be met. They have different culture beliefs. If this criteria is not met, doctors would not be able to treat the patient correctly. There would be a communication problem. They may mistreat the patient or just push the patient around, passing the patient to the next doctor. For example, a patient from Hmong goes and see a doctor for stomach pain, he or she may think that her stomach problem is due to the imbalance of the universe. If the doctor does not know this, how is he going to treat the patient correctly?
Government policies like the one-child policy in China can cause health inequalities between the rich and the poor. The rich are able to go against the one-child policy and pay the find for having more than one child. The poor cannot. Furthermore, ladies have to scan to check the fetus of the baby and if it is girl, those from poor families usually abort their child as there is a strong emphasis on having sons.
The media can also create health inequalities between women, especially those from the upper and lower class. There are techniques to look healthy and beautiful, for example, breast augmentation ,liposuction and spa treatments. They are very expensive. Only those whose income are quite high enough can afford, those with low income cannot go for these treatments. However treatments are well know to cause side effects to health , for example breast cancer.
Individuals may be able to make decisions on their health lifestyle. They may choose a healthy or an unhealthy lifestyle. Their social factors, environment, age, gender and health beliefs influence their decision. Therefore health decisions cannot be sole made on individually decisions only. Inevitably there would be health inequalities when health decisions are made because socio-economic factors and social factors are in play. Therefore health inequalities cannot also be individually constructed. Different people with different race and ethnicity face different health inequalities. It depends on their socio-economic status. Social support is needed to help migrants cope with cultural shock and stress. Governments must help the lower income group rise out from the poverty belt in order for them to enjoy better health care. They would be able to buy medical insurance also. The ratio of blacks in the US not having medical insurance is rather high. There are signs that the rate of the white is also on the increase. Doctors must know their patients culture in order to treat them, if not there would be a communication barrier. Therefore there is a lot work to reduce health inequalities in the world but it is not impossible.
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