Social Class, Race, and Health - Nassau Community College€¦ · To understand how health is...
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Transcript of Social Class, Race, and Health - Nassau Community College€¦ · To understand how health is...
Social Class, Race, and
Health
Overview of today’s lecture
To examine race and class disparity in health
To understand how health is affected by one’s
social class and race
To learn how health policies and social
policies are completely interwoven.
To learn that health care access has a much
smaller influence on population health than do
the underlying social determinants of health.
To learn theories on class and health
What’s the headline news today?
Federal government shutdown
What is the main cause of the shutdown?
Why?
Ideological divide
Health care as a commodity or human rights
Why do Republicans oppose to the law?
subsidies
Think about Spencer’s Social Darwinism
Photo of Spencer
Definition of Class
Quick review
Based on money or material possessions.
How is class defined by Mark and Weber?
K. Marx –
• the ownership of means of production
M. Weber –
• wealth, power, and prestige
Definition of Race
The inherited physical characteristics that distinguish one group from another.
Races are social classifications rather than biological categories.
Different societies have differing racial classifications.
Even for the same society, definition of race changes over time.
Definition of health
Health: A state of complete physical,
mental, and social well-being, and not
merely the absence of disease and
infirmity.
Relationship between race, class, and
health
Race ------------- Class
Class ---------- Health
Race---------- Health
Race Class Health
Terms for health inequalities
health inequalities refer to the unequal
distribution of environmental health
hazards and access to health services as
well as objective measures of health
outcome such as
illness/disease/mortality/life expectancy
“health variations“ (Britain)
“health disparities“ (USA)
Which term do you like to use?
Class disparity in access to health
care
• Among adults, 40% of those who have not
graduated from high school are uninsured,
compared with only 10% of college
graduates.
• More than 60% of the uninsured are in
low-income families.
• Persons who lack insurance receive less
medical care, including screening and
treatment, than those who are covered
and may receive poorer-quality care.
Class disparity in high blood lead
levels
• compared with high-income families, both
children and adults from poor families
show a sixfold increase in rates of high
blood lead levels, while middle-income
adults and children show a twofold
increase (Pamuk et al). • Lead is a highly toxic metal that was used for many years in
products found in and around our homes. An elevated blood lead
level in a child is defined as 10 or more micrograms of lead in a
deciliter (μg/dL) of blood.
Class and Race Variations
in Life Expectancy
Life expectancy –
the average number of years a person born in a given
year can expect to live
Social Class
• The upper class has a distinct advantage over the less
affluent in regard to life expectancy.
Race and Ethnicity
• In the U.S., whites have a longer life expectancy than
most racial and ethnic groups
African Americans have lowest life
expectancy
Life expectancy by Race, Sex, and
Age
Relative Risk of Premature Death by
Family Income
Low birthweight births by
race/ethnicity
http://diversitydata.sph.harvard.edu/Data/
Maps/Show.aspx?ind=197&ch=5&dtm=19
7&tf=36&sortby=Value¬es=True&rt=M
etroArea&rgn=ShowLargest100
Exposure to Neighborhood Poverty
by Race/Ethnicity and Income
http://diversitydata.sph.harvard.edu/Data/
Maps/Show.aspx?ind=141&ch=5&ch=49&
dtm=141&tf=7&sortby=Value¬es=True
&rt=MetroArea&rgn=ShowLargest100
Class and Health
Resources shape health before birth
and throughout Life
The consequences of living in a
positive setting or a negative one are
not transitory; they are cumulative.
Cumulative advantage hypothesis
The cumulative advantage hypothesis
states that health inequalities emerge
by early adulthood and subsequently
widen as economic and health
advantages of higher SES individuals
accumulate (House et al. 1994; Ross
and Wu, 1996; Lynch, 2003).
Resources Shape Health Before Birth
and Throughout Life
Even before children are born, the resources
their families can command are shaping their health.
Pregnant women from lowest levels of SES receive less prenatal care, experience higher levels of stress, and deliver more premature and low weight babies (less than 5.5 pounds).
The consequences of low birth weight
increased risk of infant death, slow cognitive development, hyperactivity, breathing problems, overweight, and heart disease.
Why the race and class health
disparity?
Remember C. Wright Mills?
Sociological Imagination
our ability to break ourselves free from
our particular circumstances and see
our social world in a new light.
Need to examine both micro (personal)
and macro (structural/institutional) factors
Why the race and class health
disparity? (continued)
Micro-level factors
education, occupation, income, health
insurance, stress, life style factors (diet,
exercise., etc., Sudano and Baker 2006)
Macro-level factors
Community differences, racial residential
segregation, historical and continuing racial
discrimination that structure and limit personal
resources (education, occupation, income,
health insurance)
The Macro Factors
Housing policy, education policy, labor market
policies, and zoning are critical to determining
the conditions that lead to patterns of disease
and mortality.
Policies that affect the health of the labor market
are important medicine we can apply.
Policies intended to increase the income (and
income security) of the poor will have great
positive impact on health outcomes.
The Macro Factors (continued)
In many cities urban renewal dismantled long-
standing social structures and organization,
paving the way for a range of social and health
problems.
Health policies and social policies are
completely interwoven.
Class and health (empirical studies)
Low SES individuals perform risky manual labor than
high SES individuals, and their health deteriorates faster
as a consequence (Marmot et al. 1997b; Schrijvers et al.
1998; Borg and Kristensen, 2000).
Education is found to have a causal effect on health and
mortality (Lleras-Muney, 2005; Oreopoulos, 2006; Smith,
2007; Silles, 2009).
Lynch et al. (1997) suggest that accumulated exposure
to economic hardship causes bad health.
Two thirds of the variation in health deterioration can be
explained by working environment and life style factors
alone (Borg and Kristensen, 2000).
Low Socioeconomic Status
Greater exposure to physical, chemical,
biological, and psychsocial hazards
Develop higher rates of psychological
distress and mental health problems
• Increased stress due to inadequate
financial resources
• Harmful behaviors such as smoking and
alcohol consumption
• Poorer eating habits and lack of exercise
Residential environments and health
Neighborhood differences not “naturally”
determined, result from specific policies
Physical AND social environments
Utah vs. Nevada study
environments can affect health related
processes (behaviors, stress)
Changes in neighborhood environments
likely to have multiple health and non
health benefits
Living in a disadvantaged community
Exposure to greater industrial pollution, lead, carbon dioxide, industrial waste, etc.
lack of access to amenities, which in turn may affect access to healthful foods, to opportunities for physical activity, and to medical and other services.
insecurity, fear of crime, suffering from the effects of a low position in the socioeconomic hierarchy, and lack of social support.
Living in a disadvantaged community
(continued)
Environmental racism
Poor minorities are still at far greater risk for environmental exposure than are whites in general, or middle-class adults and children of any race and ethnicity.
Short video
http://unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips_det
ail.php?res_id=409
Study by Diez Roux et al.
individual socioeconomic characteristics, particularly
income, are negatively related to the incidence of heart disease.
The researchers divided neighborhoods into groups on the basis of household income and other socioeconomic characteristics, separately for blacks and whites.
Among whites, as among blacks, the worse off the neighborhood, the higher the incidence of heart disease.
By bringing together two levels of analysis - communities and individual residents - they show that socioeconomic characteristics of communities, in addition to individual characteristics such as income, education, and occupation, are related to the incidence of heart disease.
Source: New England Journal of Medicine, v.345, n.2 12jul01
Class and Prevalence of Health Problems in Children
The Relationship Between Class and Health
How class affect health
Children who experience disease or disability tend to miss school, and ultimately complete fewer years of schooling.
This then limits the kind of occupations they qualify for, forcing them to poorly paid jobs.
Poorly paid jobs tend to be jobs with little control and stressful physical working conditions, both of which contribute to the onset of health problems.
The onset of health problems during the working life of an adult impacts the ability to continue working or to advance occupationally.
This impacts the economic security people experience in retirement.
The impact of family circumstances and
childhood on adulthood health
The impact of family circumstances and childhood may not show up until adulthood, after the body’s regulatory system has been overburdened for a long time, and the cumulative damage manifests itself as disease.
Disease may emerge only after years of cumulative risk.
High blood pressure, excessive weight gain – which may go on for awhile without producing alarming symptoms – can evolve into heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other conditions that cut life expectancy.
The Long Term Impact of the
Environment/Community (Part I)
Toxins and pollutants, including lead, dirty air and noise -- >affect health directly and indirectly in the form of poor cognitive development, resulting in school performance problems.
Less access to playgrounds, parks, and other safe places to exercise.
Libraries are scarcer, and so opportunities to read are less plentiful.
Unstable housing that translates into disruptions in social support and lack of continuity in school attendance.
The Long Term Impact of the
Environment/Community (Part II)
Greater consumption of fast food; less access to healthy food. Poor eating habits set the stage for childhood
and adult obesity.
Violence in school and on the street exposes children to conflict and anxiety.
crime decreases the feasibility of routine exercise
Inadequate and delayed health care increases the chance that injuries and illnesses
will develop into permanent disabilities.
Policies that Affect the Class
Inequality
income and wealth distribution
educational attainment
occupational mobility
Theoretical models on class and
heath (Bartley and Blane, 2008)
Behavioral model
dietary choices, consumption of drugs, alcohol
and tobacco, exercises, immunization, and
antenatal services.
Materialist model
exposed to harm such as air-pollution and
damp housing and lack of access to health care
resources
Theoretical models on class and
heath (Bartley and Blane, 2008)
Psycho-social model
Stress and social integration
Study shows that good relationships with family and
friends, and who participate in the community, have
longer life expectancies than those who are relatively
isolated
Life-course model –
health disadvantage accumulates over time
Disadvantages are likely to accumulate
through childhood and adulthood
Conflict theory on class and heath
Dominant group make sure they will have
health care coverage, while simultaneously
ensuring that subordinate groups stay
subordinate through lack of access.
Education
Provide access to high quality early
childhood education for all children
Reform school financing to equalize
access to quality education in K through
12
Reduce financial barriers that prevent
qualified students from attending college
Training
Equalize access to opportunities for new
or enhanced job skills training on the job,
in community colleges, and in other
venues
Income
Provide adequate income to every household
through minimum wage increase
Offer income supports to families for newborns
Provide earned income tax credits to reduce the
burden on those with less income
Secure pension plans and increase saving
incentives
Policies that Blunt Adverse
Consequences
Environment
Provide affordable housing
Tighten zoning to restrict noise and
pollution
Enforce lead abatement ordinances
Increase traffic safety
Reduce violence and crime
Work
Limit exposure to physical hazards, chemicals, and psychosocial strains in workplaces
Increase opportunities for control over work demands
Reduce disruptive shift changes and extended work hours
Provide working parents with sufficient leave time to attend to children when they are sick
Minimize work-family conflict
Cigarettes and Alcohol
Ban smoking in public areas, subsidize treatment programs for smoking cessation and drug and alcohol abuse
Increase excise taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and junk food and use proceeds to support public health programs
Control advertising of tobacco and alcohol products
Limit the concentration and operating hours of stores selling alcohol
Recreation
Increase access to recreational facilities
through construction support and policies
to open up schools and other institutions
evenings or weekends
Nutrition
Ban sale of soft drinks and junk foods in
schools
Modify school lunch programs to improve
nutrition
Provide incentives (e.g., tax breaks or low
cost business loans) for green markets
and grocery stores that sell fresh produce
Long-term strategy for reducing health
expenditures
to address the underlying determinants of
disease
health care access has a much smaller
influence on population health than do the
underlying social determinants of health.
Discussion
Housing policy, education policy, labor
regulations, and zoning are critical to
determining the conditions that lead to
patterns of disease and mortality
Health policies and social policies are
completely interwoven.
Race and Health
More than 100 studies -- most published
since 2000 -- document the effects of
racial discrimination on physical health.
Black women who pointed to racism as a
source of stress in their lives developed
more plaque in their arteries -- an early
sign of heart disease -- than black women
who didn't.
racism harms health through….
actually experienced attacks,
perceived discrimination,
the concentration of ethnic minority groups
in lower social classes and in
unemployment (Saffron Karlsen, MSc, and
James Y. Nazroo, 2002)
Racial disparities in health
spring from pervasive social and
institutional forces.
higher rates of death and disease in
American blacks are linked to "social
determinants"
residential segregation, environmental waste,
joblessness, unsafe housing, targeted
marketing of alcohol and cigarettes, and other
inequities.
How Racism Affect Health
It acts as a chronic stressor (similar to job strain or marital conflict) leads to higher blood pressure, elevated heart
rate, increases in the stress hormone, suppressed immunity.
Chronic stress is also known to encourage unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and eating too much, that
themselves raise the risk of disease.
How Racism Affect Health
(continued)
racism-health link have tied experiences of
discrimination to poorer self-reported
health, smoking, low-birth-weight
deliveries, depressive symptoms, and
especially to cardiovascular effects.
A Mid-1980s experiment
African-American volunteers were hooked
up to blood-pressure monitors
Then they were exposed to a racially
provocative tape or TV
the volunteers' blood pressures rose, their
heart rates jumped, and they took longer
than normal to recover from both
reactions.
Long-term strategy for reducing health
expenditures
to address the underlying determinants of
disease
health care access has a much smaller
influence on population health than do the
underlying social determinants of health.
Demographic changes
Some facts
Life expectancy in China, Sri Lanka, and Kerala (a sizable state in southern India) exceeds 70 years, despite their having gross national products in 1994 of less than $1,000 per capita.
Harlem’s median family income in 1990 was $24,174, yet only 37 percent of black male would survive from the age of 15 years to 65 ( compared with 77 percent for white men ).
Poor people in the United States are rich by world standards, but they have worse health than the average in some poor countries.