1. Sociologists have researched into those chances.
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
Different groups of people in society have different patterns of health and illness.
Sociology researches into the inequalities of the chances of becoming ill and the subsequent healthcare that may follow.
Culture and lifestyle can have an important impact on people’s chances of illness or good health.
Sociologists have researched into those chances.

2. There are two ways to measure health chances.
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
‘Health chances’ are the chances that an individual has of having good health and hence a long life, or becoming ill and consequently dying at an earlier age than would have been expected.
There are two ways to measure health chances.
>Mortality statistics
>Morbidity statistics.

3. What are mortality statistics? What are morbidity statistics?
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
What are mortality statistics?
What are morbidity statistics?
These are the statistics that measure the rates of illness. For example, how many people are suffering from coronary heart disease in various social groups.
These are the statistics that measure death rates.
Mortality statistics
They can be calculated for different age groups and can indicate how many deaths are expected per thousand of the population in a particular social group.
and
Morbidity statistics

4. Sociology – Health
Socio-economic class has been linked to health inequalities for many years.

5. Sociology - Health
Edwin Chadwick published his ‘General Report on the Sanitary conditions of the Labouring Population of Great Britain’ in 1842.

6. Sociology – Health
This showed that the average age at death in Liverpool at that time was 35 for gentry and professionals but only 15 for labourers mechanics and servants.

7. Sociology – Health
Although life expectancy has improved for all classes in Britain since this time, inequalities have remained.

8. SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
At all ages, lower social class appeared to be a determining factor in mortality rates.
The health gap appears to widen as the years progress – this is in spite of the provision of the NHS and care within the community.
The Black Report (1980) linked social class to health.
It provided evidence that health chances are not equally distributed throughout society.
The lower the social class, the higher the death rate.
Class appeared to be the key to better health in this report.

9. Inequalities and Health
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
The Acheson Report
(1997)
The UN’s World
Health Organisation
Report (2014) .

10. Sociology – Health
There are significant differences in life expectancy of at least _____ years between different groups in society.

11. Annually, some ____ deaths among people younger than 65 could be prevented if inequalities in wealth narrowed to 1983 levels.

12. Sociology - Health
A boy from Lenzie, an affluent area in East Dumbartonshire could expect to live up to ___ years longer than a boy from Calton, a deprived area in Glasgow.

13. Sociology – Health

14. Sociology - Health
"It's not surprising that we see more cases of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma and bronchitis than areas like Lenzie. “
Dr Jamieson said the reasons behind the deep- rooted health problems in Calton were numerous and complex but poverty played a major part.

15. Sociology - Health
"The area also has serious problems with gang and knife culture, and of course drug and alcohol abuse, which are colossal contributors to early death."

16. Sociology – Health
WHO's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health

17. A baby girl born in Leeds is more than twice as likely to die in the first year of life than an infant girl growing up in a Dorset town

18. Social class & mortality…
Children from poorer backgrounds are __ times more likely to die from an accident then better off children.
A person born in social class 1 lives, on average, about __ years longer than someone in social class 5.
About __% more babies are stillborn or die in the first week of life in unskilled families than in professional families.

19. Social class & morbidity…
Working class people or the unskilled go to the doctor more often than those in professional jobs.
There are clear differences in self-assessed health by occupation. __% of higher managerial/professionals see themselves as having good health while only __% of the long term unemployed/never worked groups see themselves in good health.

20. Social class differences are clear not only in physical health but also in terms of mental health.
Those in the lowest social class are __x as likely to suffer from a neurotic disorder as those in the highest social class.

21. Health inequalities & social class
Despite significant improvements in health there has been little reduction in the “health gap” between the rich and the poor since the 1800’s.
The poor die younger than the rich and will have more diseases and illnesses.

22. Life expectancy at birth for men and women by social class England and Wales 2002–5
Source: Office for National Statistics 2007, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

24. Bridgend 19%
Neath 23%
Swansea East 30%
Aberavon 31%

25. What are the reasons for inequalities in health …

26. Determinants of health

27. Social selection explanation Structural and material explanations
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Cultural and behavioural explanations
Inequalities and Health
The Black Report (1980) examined four possible explanations of health inequalities.
Social selection explanation
Structural and material explanations
Artefact explanation

29. The social selection explanation
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
The social selection explanation
Let’s look at the four explanations included in the Black Report.
This is the view that social class and health are related.
Illness is caused by low income and poverty.
What is the social selection explanation?
Healthy people are likely to be more successful in life precisely because they were healthy and attended school.
They will be upwardly sociably mobile and less likely to become unemployed.

30. The artefact explanation
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
The artefact explanation
Some sociologists do not accept that there is a correlation between health and social class.
Let’s look at the four explanations included in the Black Report.
Statistical comparisons are seen to exaggerate the extent of inequality between those who are in poor health (the working class) and the middle class (who have better health).
What is the artefact explanation?
Unskilled manual workers were an older cohort in the report so this could explain their poorer health.

31. Cultural and behavioural explanations
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
Cultural and behavioural explanations
Disease is linked to the behaviour of people in different classes.
Let’s look at the four explanations included in the Black Report.
Working class people have worse health because they undertake health-damaging behaviour, such as smoking, drinking alcohol or eating high-fat foods. Lack of exercise is a feature too.
What are cultural and behavioural explanations?
There is also the argument that culture influences health-damaging behaviour.

32. Structural and material explanations
SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
Structural and material explanations
Let’s look at the four explanations included in the Black Report.
Social inequality and material inequality are seen as the causes of health inequalities, according to Townsend in the Black Report.
What are structural and material explanations?
Unemployment, poor housing or homelessness, poor working conditions, polluted or dangerous working conditions can all affect health.
Stress, respiratory disease and working conditions can all influence health adversely.

33. Explain how the following material factors could lead to ill-health:
Long working hours
Dangerous working environment
Damp housing
Low income
Stress

34. SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
The middle classes use a wider range of health care services.
However, research has shown that lower classes are more likely to become ill than the middle class.
In 1979, the Inequalities of Health report showed that poor health could be attributed to poverty.
Poor housing, lack of money and a lack of knowledge were the main contributing factors, it concluded, to poor health.
How do different social groups use the health services?
According to research, the social class with the worst health, the working class, benefit less from the health services.

35. SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
The middle classes use a wider range of health care services.
They are also more likely to have a longer consultation with the doctor and ask for and receive more information about their medical problem.
Inequalities and Health
They are also inclined to ask for a second opinion, if they are not satisfied with the first.
The middle classes make more use of preventative measures and screening.
How do different social groups use the health services?
According to research, the social class with the worst health, the working class, benefit less from the health services.
Why?

36. SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
Inequalities and Health
How do different social groups use the health services?
The middle classes can also use private health schemes to deal with health issues.
This will inevitably change their relationship with their doctor because they then become more like a paying customer.
According to research, the social class with the worst health, the working class, benefit less from the health services.

37. SOCIOLOGY - HEALTH
In conclusion
there are many inequalities in the health status of individuals depending on class.
There are also a variety of reasons put forward for the differences in the statistics of different groups.